Time Would Tell
by Miims
Summary: Sometimes people get second chances. The akatsuki get thiers when an offer from their home is too great to resist. Now as each member dies, they enter soul society as spies for thier home. No yoai.
1. Prolouge

How long had it been since this feeling was last known.

Ages.

Ages upon Ages.

So long had the being been in slumber, that it failed to understand the reason why it had been awoken. Then it felt _that_ feeling of malcontent. So strong was it, that it could not have been a human. Though they, humans, were strong and their will to endure was great, no human could feel that malicious. Especially for something the human did not know existed.

No, this feeling was coming from its neighbor. And it was directed towards the mysterious being. Why, the being did not know

It was then that the thing, that was nether male nor female, decided on a course of action.

Yes, it was time to awaken her guardian's true power, and send _something_ to see what exactly had caused this. After all, the being could not get directly involved, not if it wanted the element of surprise, not if it wanted victory in the coming struggle. For a struggle there would be. Now was the time to bide time, gather strength. Now who were to be the pawns, the spies, they would have to be strong and elite… and near death.

Though what bothered the being most was why the neighbor had awoken, and why it so wanted to fight, to conquer. Why after all the years of peace? What had caused the sudden shift in attitude? It was yet to be seen, but would eventually be known, all that was needed was time.

Thus, the time would tell, the time would tell.


	2. Enter Sasori, Meet Kakuzu

Chapter 1: Meet Sasori, Enter Kakuzu

Sasori was dead. He had been for quite some time. One minute, he was fighting his grandmother and the pink haired brat, and the next thing he knew -he was at their feet, slowly leaving his world. Not that he really cared; he knew what his grandmother had planned, and was tired of the life of a shinobi. Thus, he let nature take it's course. Sasori was far too proud to commit suicide. So he just let his grandmother do it for him, finish the job if you will.

Then, much to his amusement, he found that he was standing or rather floating above the battlefield where he had just fought. His red hair covered his chocolate eyes, as he surveyed the scene. His perfected body was lying between the bodies of his parents. After a time, he heard a voice. It was neither masculine nor feminine, asexual, yet greater than both.

"Aka Suna no Sasori you have just died," it spoke.

He could only snort. It was like the voice thought he did not know this, even though his body was lying beneath him.

"Relax, you have no need to show such annoyance," it paused and then spoke once more, "I am here to speak to you about a propoal."

"And why should I listen to your proposition?" Sasori asked quietly. "If it holds no gain for me, then why should I bother considering it?"

"You are right; however, I do believe you will listen to my proposition, for it does indeed have a use for you," the voice paused once more for him to consider, however when he did not, it continues. "You have committed many crimes in your thirty five years of life-"

"I know what I have done. Now could we get to the point?" he interrupted tersely.

"Very well, I am offering you a chance to redeem yourself," the voice paused and he interjected.

"And why would I need to do that?"

"Because of the numerous crimes you have committed," it answered simply. "You will suffer an eternity in hell, however I am offering you a deal to redeem yourself".

"…" Sasori pondered, he had let his grandmother kill him just so he could fade away peacefully. To find out he would suffer in hell was not his idea of peaceful.

"The world closest to our own has turned it's eye towards our own world greedily. You, who are already dead, will be my spy and infiltrate the place called Seiretei. From there, you will do everything you can to bring the enemy world down from the inside out. My offer to you is freedom from your bondage in hell and perhaps even a second chance at life".

"Who are you to grant so powerful a gift, and who knows so much about other worldly affairs?"

"I am the soul of this world that you live on, and the bijuu -might I add- are my guardians. Still, that is the reason I have chosen you, a human who could easily defeat one of the tailed beasts. As your comrades die, I will offer them the same choice as you have received. Hopefully, you are not too arrogant to choose the wrong one."

"An eternity in hell you say? Very well, I shall choose to be your spy; however, I would like to know why I must be dead to go to this place. Seireitei was it?"

"You shall find out soon enough. Remember you are my spy. Keep silent. Let no one find you, it would be quite bothersome if they were to find your intention and mine"

"Fine"

"This conversation is done. Prepare yourself, and remember your purpose, and why must find this information. I depend upon it."

"And if I don't?" Sasori queried.

"Use your imagination," and without another word everything, the world, the voice, was gone.

That was how, much to his annoyance, Sasori next found himself standing in a giant, bustling metropolis. And by no means was it as nice, clean, or technologically advanced as a hidden village, which tended to be well maintained, but still absolutely massive. His clothing had changed to a cheap but unnoticeable Yugata(1) and for that he was appreciative. The people's eyes just went right over him, ignoring the sixteen year old boy, for he had kept the age of his puppet body, who had just appeared out of thin air. Obviously the occurrence of bodies popping out of nowhere was regular. He made his way around, gathering information. It seemed as if he would be there for quite some time, so he thought he might as well make himself comfortable with the surroundings.

He found his primary observation had been right. Massive, the city was, but it was also dark, dank and screamed of poverty and resentment. The emotion he sensed, resentment, would be quite useful for him. Resentment turned friend against friend, man against wife, king against country, and country against king. No it was the physical state of the city that disgusted him, not the emotion that it seemed steeped with, that would aid him.

However, finding information proved to be harder than he had first thought it would be. He found himself a quaint little house, and made it his own. He then set out every other day or so to find out useful information. He was also cautious, as the warning, voiced by the soul of his world, still rang in his ears. Days melted to weeks, and he still had not found out much about the place and, at that point, he began to worry. He was also extremely bored. So many weeks with such a boring project could do that to you. He would often find himself in a bored stupor, after all, he would often have hours upon hours with absolutely nothing productive to do.

It was also around that time that he discovered the useful fact that only those that had a spiritual pressure felt hunger. Thus, he decided upon a course of action, obviously he had a spiritual pressure; that much was proven to be true when he began to get hungry. Every other person, those that lacked the spiritual pressure, simply liked to eat. The entire subject of spiritual pressure bothered him. He found out immediately that it was the energy of the spirit, and that only a few souls had it, and it this realm they, the souls that held Spiritual pressure, or reatsu, were trained to be shinigami.

He associated spiritual pressure with chakra and guessed that the two were similar with major differences. Sasori then hypothesized that those who had chakra automatically had spiritual pressure, yet it was not so for the reverse. Based on these guesses he formulated a plan. But he was not sure he wanted to go through with this plan yet. So the weeks rolled by until he had spent an entire month in the giant city.

Yes, he had been in this strange city for a whole month and life was hard; he had discovered that early on. It was not the police that strolled the streets beating anyone who so much as looked at them in a way they deemed incorrect, nor was it the arrogant shinigami whom already he secretly hated. No, it was the constant state of hunger he was in. And the fact that he had yet to find anything useful. The old world's warning hung over his head.

Sasori had long since learned that starvation would not kill him, it would only cause him extreme pain, not that pain was any better. Already he had gone out quite a few times to relieve himself of some of his excruciating hunger. What he meant was stealing. So, on this day, he left the abandoned house he was currently residing in to explore the wonders that were Rukongai. Yes, the dirty ever stretching city did have a name and even had districts; the hell hole he was living in was the 78th district. Truly, it was a pit not fit for even a dog, however it did not stop people from attempting to live there, which just goes to show, he thought, that humanity is doomed to cling to life wherever it may be found.

He made his way past the tiny hovels that people called houses to the same bustling street that he had had landed on, because that was what had happened, he had landed. Then, he began meandering innocently down the giant way. Every now and then his deft hands would flash when he was close enough to food and nobody noticed. He was a shinobi or had been when he was alive.

So that was how he survived, on the fringe of society like an animal. But as much as he did not like it living like this, it was how he stayed hidden. Sasori made his way home past the waste filled river and the multitude of shacks to his own temporary housing. However, when he arrived something was not right. In it's outer appearance everything was fine, not a curtain out of place, not that the shack had curtains.

But Sasori was a Shinobi, one of the strongest there had been. So what would have been normal to any other person screamed wrong to him. He knew there was someone in his house, who or perhaps what had yet to be seen.

Now he had a decision to make, either leave and forget that this had ever happened, or go in and confront who/whatever had gone into his home. If he chose to leave, he would have to relocate, find new clothing and a new base from which to store his information. If he stayed he would have to fight the people, or worse yet things, which were in his shack. Getting rid of the bodies was not a problem, as he found out on his first night in Soul Society. An incredibly useful thing about them, especially for him, was that they just vanished. That made _getting rid of_ the inhabitants much easier. But if they should be the shinigami, he might be in trouble simply because he did not know anything about them; and because he was trying to hide. So he decided to do the smart thing and leave.

There would be other homes, but he no longer had the advantage of his immortal body and did not want to take the chance of receiving a potentially fatal wound. So silently and quickly as a shinobi should, he left. He leapt into a tree and with one strong push he was flying through roof tops. He wove his way over Rukongai then jumped silently down. It was the dead of night, so there was no need to worry about being seen. He hit the ground gracefully and began walking away from the scene casually, that was until he heard the sound of running feet from the rooftop he had just jumped off of. He quickly ducked into the nearest house and silently padded through the hallway hoping no one would enter it. Then once he reached the other side of the home he broke into a fast sprint.

Sasori found himself running down the same street he had been walking down earlier that same day, the busy market road. He ran faster as he once more heard pounding footsteps behind him, and felt the energy of the unknown being, practically gliding over the uneven streets. Behind him, the footsteps also sped up to match his own speed. That was when he began to worry; he was pushing himself beyond the limit of what any normal person should be able go. This meant one thing, and that was that he was being chased by a Shinigami.

This in itself was not frightening, but the fact that he might be discovered was (he did not know what sort of punishment the old world would come up with). So Sasori pumped spiritual energy into his legs and in but a few moments was traveling at a speed that was almost blinding. From there, he left his enemy far behind, but kept on sprinting at the blinding pace simply because he was not winded and wished to put as much distance between him and the shinigami as possible. But that was the problem, the speed was not nearly blinding it was blinding. So much so, that he had missed whatever technique that a …someone had fired, and now here he was all tied up.

He struggled uselessly against the bonds and was preparing to use his spiritual pressure when a familiar face stepped from the shadows. Immediately, Sasori stopped struggling and the black chords unwound themselves from his body. He stepped onto the ground gracefully a turned to the familiar face of Kakuzu smiling faintly. He was also garbed in the plainly simple Yugata, his many stitches revealed in a dark light. However stranger than that was the fact that he appeared to be a sixteen year old. Just as Sasori did himself.

"It has been quite sometime has it not Sasori?" He asked quietly.

Sasori quickly got over his shock. He had known that other Akatsuki members would be joining him. The old world had said that the offer would be made to all the others. Of course he had not thought it would be Kakuzu. In fact, if he had been given a proper guess, he would have gone more along the lines of Kisame, Deidara or Konan even. Kakuzu was strong, and his views on life were similar to Sasori's- that immortality was possible. But here Kakuzu was, standing right in front of him, but what Sasori really could not get over was the fact that Kakuzu appeared sixteen.

Similar thoughts passed through Kakuzu's mind as he watched Sasori; however he had other things to talk about.

"I assume you remember me?" Kakuzu said.

Sasori looked at him and then back in the direction he had come from before answering. "Yes"

"Worried about something?" Kakuzu asked, noticing Sasori's look.

"Yes, someone was chasing me though, I left them behind," Sasori continued, "We should get off the road"

"You have a place to stay so we can?"

"I did"

Kakuzu merely turned and left the road, "Come on then, we will have to _find_ a place to stay," though the emphasis he placed upon the word find suggested something else.

Silence ruled as Sasori and Kakuzu made their way through the quiet city. What had been a bustling market place before the coming of night was now cold and desolate. The dark city literally swallowed them, the moon a crescent high in the sky didn't illuminate anything. The lonely torches that they occasionally passed were so few in number; that from one to the other numerous dark passages and alleyways were seen. They were a dangerous trap for unwary travelers. Had they been others, the silence of the city would have struck them as frightening. Since they were both trained in the art of killing, it would take more than just the dead quiet to scare them.

Slowly they climbed, making their way deeper and deeper into the upper city until Sasori stepped onto a stair case where there was a flickering light emanating from the crack between the door and the floor and soft clinking of glass on table tops could be heard. Sasori opened the door and entered the indoor bar first, followed by Kakuzu. They made their way to the corner of the room where a table had been conveniently set up for any who did not wish to be heard. They sat down and hunched over the table to silence their whispers.

"So you received the same deal I did huh?"Kakuzu grinned

"Obviously"

"Hehe," Kakuzu laughed good naturedly but Sasori knew other wise, Kakuzu was not naturally a good natured person.

"Tell what happened since I have been gone," it was a demand.

Kakuzu frowned; obviously his death was not something that he wanted to talk about, but he began anyway, "Since you left, we captured the Nibi and the Sanbi. Hidan captured the Nibi and Deidara with Tobi captured the Sanbi." He said it in a business like tone, as if he was finishing a deal between himself and a client.

"So I assume that Tobi was paired with my… misguided former partner," Sasori was smirking he knew how much Tobi bothered Deidara.

"Yes, then Hidan and I went to Konoha because some punk leaf nin decided that they wanted to avenge their dead teacher, and Hidan being the idiot that he is, decided he wanted to fight them. So then, we met up with the punk,s even though I had purposely avoided the designated meeting place"

That was how Sasori found himself nodding at appropriate times and attempting to listen to Kakuzu rant on about his death. He would occasionally comment here or there to keep Kakuzu going but mainly kept out of the conversation so he would not rile Kakuzu more; after all, he was notoriously temperamental. Sasori even imagined what Hidan would suffer, should he somehow manage to die, by the hand of Kakuzu, who wished for revenge. Then Kakuzu's tale began winding down, and Sasori listened to tales of the kyuubi brat's new power.

"It was this massive rasengan, but with a shuriken made of wind spiraling around it. Then he rammed it into me and it felt like I was being ripped apart," then he paused, for he was obviously remembering his death.

"The next thing I know," he continued, "was that I was floating above my body, listening to Tsunade talk about the consistency of the attack, like poison she said."

"Yes?" inquired Sasori politely.

"Well, then I started wandering and I found this hole that had recently been covered with rocks," he described, "I didn't know what drew me to the hole in the beginning, but then it hit me," he started laughing… maniacally.

This caused the other bar patrons to turn to the two boys in confusion, they were suspicious, not only were they too young but they were in a bar in the middle of the night, conversing secretly. Sasori hit himself mentally, wanting to drag a knife across Kakuzu's throat for not understanding the delicate situation they were in.

"Shhhhh," Sasori hit Kakuzu, than gave a discreet but meaningful look around the room.

Kakuzu for his part, shut up and quietly continued his story, "Anyway at some point I realized that Hidan was in the hole. Some how, after we had been separated, the shadow user managed to cut him to pieces and dump the still speaking parts into the hole," he started chuckling again, as if the thought of his partner suffering in the hole amused him.

Sasori voiced his opinion, "And you find that amusing?"

"Yes, wouldn't you laugh if Deidara got himself cut to pieces and dumped, then buried in some hole?"

It seemed that Kakuzu had a point because immediately a twisted grin twirled its way across Sasori's face, "Well now that you mention it… hn"

Both men sat in a brooding silence as each one imagined their prospective partner suffering in one way or another. However, the entertainment was not to last, as one of the employees interrupted their menacing silence with an extremely pompous cough.

"Can we help you?," came the reply from Kakuzu.

"Yes, you can leave, that would be very helpful," came a reply from the man, who upon closer inspection appeared more apish than human.

Sasori and Kakuzu allowed their eyes to glide over the figure before them and only one thought came to either man: disturbing. The spirit/soul/thing before them looked as if his mother had 3 to many barrels of sake before accidentally screwing a gorilla. Thereby conceiving a hybrid of both, with the insane strength of the gorilla and mind of a human, theoretically a hybrid would be useful. However, because of the way he so rudely addressed two people, with such strong killing intent, clearly stated that he had not inherited human intelligence. Most likely, the man had merely inherited the ugliness of the ape parent and not its strength, as well. He was also not particularly brave, this was seen when the thing began shaking due to the intense stares it was receiving from both occupants of the table.

"Hmurmgm," he made a sound that obviously meant to stop staring, however both teens opted to ignore the hidden request in the shape of an oddly apish sound.

The hybrid, because that was what they were referring to him as now, tried once more using words, "It's impolite to stare"

"Is it now?" answered Sasori silently with amused sarcasm.

"I did not know," said Kakuzu playing along with Sasori.

"Yes," said the hybrid, cheeks flushed as he recognized the obvious disdain.

"Hmm," Sasori's reply came silently once more, he was the kind of person who enjoyed toying with people, and the hybrid before them was the perfect specimen to release some of his pent up frustration. He had after all been in this place one month without any useful information gathered, he was used to efficiency. Yes, he was going to enjoy destroying the man's confidence.

"Before you ask me for my name, you should give me yours. But of course you know that, after all you were the one giving me lectures on _my_ manners," came the silky voice of Sasori, before the hybrid could answer.

The man's piggy eyes narrowed slightly at the rude implication, however, he replied, "Shiba Ganju of the Shiba clan." He paused expectantly after telling them his-oh-so illustrious name.

"Well it is _nice_ _to meet _you Shiba-_donno_, but you must excuse us we will be late for a rather important meeting if we do not leave now"

With that they left, Sasori called behind them as they exited, "Serving boys shouldn't step beyond their place and address costumers unless addressed first."

"I am not a serving boy!" came the very disgruntled reply from the hybrid now know as Ganju.

However, before the hybrid/Ganju could complain about Sasori's final comment both former Akatsuki men were on the street too far away to hear the hybrid's many complaints. The two teens continued walking in their silence, their amusement left behind in the bar. Anybody who might have been near them would have noticed an extremely business-like air around the two, one far too serious for people as young as the two appeared.

Then Kakuzu spoke once more, "The old world told me that if we did this job we would have a second chance at life."

"Might, Kakuzu, might is the word, I seriously doubt we will actually get a chance to live once more," came the reply from Sasori who did not feel the burning need to live once more.

"Yea, I know"

"Besides we won't be able to get to work until more of us are here, we can't do much by ourselves. I found that out on my own and it does not seem like Hidan will be able to help us either," the unspoken words of he is in a hole hung in the air.

"I don't know about that, before I left, the Old World said something about trying to separate Hidan's soul from his body so he 'could be of use' so I suppose we should be looking for him"

"Right you do that." It was a command.

Sasori paused, then turned suddenly. He could not believe it; there it was again that same being that had been chasing him before. Kakuzu turned and looked at Sasori's retreating figure, then began to follow. Sasori was stuck in a brooding silence as he felt the figure's signature peel off in another direction.

"We will have to find a place to stay, then we should begin planning," Kakuzu broke the silence.

"hn"

"We should also find a way to get a steady flow of cash"

"_Of course_," why wasn't Sasori surprised.

From there, the two lost themselves in the giant city once more. The darkness was nearly palpable about them. The city's rank breath surrounded them as they were swallowed in the night.

Only to be awoken as the _dawn _came then next day.

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A cotton kimono

Thanks to hard-bitten confinement- my grammar is bad, but it didn't know it was this… yucky… constructive criticism is always good. It would have been worse if I continued looking like an idiot. If anybody else has problems with my grammar please tell me. I tried to fix it, but I don't know if I got everything.


	3. Hidan lay in a Hole

I don't own Naruto or Bleach

Hidan lay in a hole, yes a hole. He would be trapped there for an eternity, as the pineapple head had put it. He would not be able to do his daily rituals because he had been cut into tiny pieces. He would not be able to sacrifice anything to his god, Jashin, as was required, and he most certainly would not be able to uphold any parts of his religion. In short, he was now a heathen. He could no longer call himself a loyal acolyte to Jashin, especially if he could not properly worship his god. This to Hidan was worse than death. The only thing good about the situation was the fact that he was in almost constant pain. Perhaps Jashin would forgive him if the god saw the eternity of pain and suffering Hidan was going to endure and enjoy in his name. After all he was a masochist, after all, he _enjoyed_ pain, his own and the pain of others.

Hidan could not even understand how this, himself and the hole, had happened, he and his partner Kakuzu had been sent on a mission to capture their jinchuriki, and he had succeeded. Then they were called back for the sealing of both the nibi and the sanbi. From there, they were going to kill the konoha shinobi. Hidan would be happy, his god would be appeased, and Kakuzu would have a bounty to temporarily stop his rants on the importance of cash in the world. Yes, things would have gone well, had the pineapple head not figured out the secret to his technique. How could such a perfect scenario go down the drain.

So now, after all of his years of being a devote Jashinist, all his years of prayer, sacrifices, and loyalty he was stuck in a hole. The only things he could look foreword to were thoughts of how Jashin would punish the heathen who put him in this godforsaken hole. It had been who knows how long since he had been buried, and now, Jashin forbid, he was beginning to get used to the pain of mutilation and being scattered in a hole. And it was there, in his boredom, where he attempted to move his pinky, and, when he did, he cried out in success. It was a big deal for him, to be able to move a body part that was no longer connected -albeit that was most of his body. So being able to move one pinky would eventually mean that he would be able to move his whole body, and then he could find a way to piece himself back together. Which according to Hidan's reasoning, would not be long; of course, his logic had never been the best.

Yes, Hidan had reluctantly submitted himself to the idea of taking his revenge upon the pineapple head's family generations from now, when he did finally manage to get out of his hole. It was then that Hidan first heard the voice, whilst in the middle of his vengeful musings.

"Hidan- you who worships the evil god Jashin- will spend an eternity in this earthen hell, never will you see the heaven that your god promises upon death."

"Great, now I'm a Schizo hearing voices like this"

"I guarantee, you are no schizophrenic"

"Then why am I hearing a fucking voice when there is nobody else around"

"I am the soul of the world you reside in"

"Why can't you be Jashin-sama perhaps if I could speak to him maybe I would pay more attention", said Hidan slyly, or what he thought to be sly.

"Your disgusting god does not exist" said the voice impatiently.

This of course sent Hidan on a religious rant. And as anyone who had dared imply that Jashin did not exist before, soon found out, so now did the voice too, and that was; you simply did not say those kinds of things near Hidan. Namely, putting the words nonexistence and Jashin together in the same sentence was enough to earn the wrath of the over zealous albino worshiper. Had Hidan been holing his scythe he would have been swinging the massive three bladed weapon at no one in particular, generally making a spectacle of himself. Not that this bothered the albino at all, the only problem he was thinking about at the moment was why he had to be the one with an unreligious other half. This did not bode well for Hidan and thus he attempted to eradicate the voice that had no body, not that he had one either. The only other option was to completely curse shock the invading voice so that it would leave him alone and never return. That is exactly what Hidan did. From there, with an exasperated sigh, the voice left the raging Jashinist alone.

For Hidan, after the voice had left, boredom took it's toll. He was once more stuck in the hole, with absolutely nothing to do. Still boredom was better than talking to a non-believing other half that was rude enough to interrupt his thoughts. At least that was according to Hidan's logic. From there, he was once more stuck in his hole, he was now calling it _his_ hole, trying to move his fingers.

It had been who knows how long since the voice last spoke and Hidan had progressed far. He could now move all of his fingers on one hand and had progressed to his other. No, life in -his- hole was good living, he was living in constant pain which he decided would get him points in Jashin's eye. That was when the voice came back.

"Hidan"

"Yes you fuckin Heathen?"

"I am not a heathen"

"Ha Ha HA, don't deny it you fuckin nonbeliever"

"It was not my purpose to come here today to argue my beliefs I-" the voice was cut of.

"I don't listen to heathens, seriously"

"You listened to Pein"

A very loud "Fuck You!" was heard after that comment.

"Silence you insolent fool, I have had more than enough of your endless parade of foul words and pointless proclamations to a non existent Deity."

Hidan was at a loss for words. Never before had that happened before. Normally he would just kill the person, but seeing as the thing was now a part of himself, he still thought he was a schizo, he would not, could not just kill it. He was also secretly frightened, the voice, his other-evil- half said the words coolly. Those words promised something that Kakuzu could never offer; something that he feared deep in his the very fiber of his being, something he did not have to worry about, due to hid immortal body. Death, something he should not have had to suffer until he died of old age, or, the world ended, whichever came first. Yet, here this voice was silently offering it to him, death, and he believed that the voice could back those words up with actions.

When no reply came from Hidan, the voice spoke once more, "Good, now are you willing to listen?"

"Seriously? Listen what?"

"Yes, now as I said, I am the soul of the world you call your home" it continued on with no sign of it's previous malignance, "as such you owe me"

"Hehe, No I don't"

"Yes you do, now silence yourself, I have offered this deal to the two that died before you and now I am giving it to you."

"What's the offer? And I hope you know, but I can't die"

"To do my biding in a world not your own, and the compensation for your work, should you agree, will forgiveness of the sins you committed during your life."

"I can't die, so fuckin sorry, hehe, I already said that", came the sarcastic apology.

"That can be fixed. I will temporarily free your soul from your body, and then you can help me."

"No! I fuckin refuse to help a fuckin non-believer! "

"You have no choice; your services will be useful, if not only for your over-zeal, which I expect you to use in this job. You will not say anything of your purpose, and you will complete the mission, then perhaps you shall meet your Jashin."

"Jashin-_sama,_ fucking ingrate"

There came no reply. The being was no longer there, and, Hidan realized he was not there either. The only way to describe his current location was nowhere. He was simply gone. He felt himself being pieced back together, back in the somewhere, but he or perhaps his soul, did not do anything. Then he felt a sudden lurch. His eyes closed for half a second, and he felt his feet hit the ground hard. He then opened his eyes and saw a city that could only be described as colossal.

Hidan looked around at the stalls, he had landed in a marketplace, and then up at the people. He looked up at women, and men, and even some teenagers. That-was-wrong Hidan only looked up figuratively, to his god and physically, to tall people. He was by no means a short man. Yet here he was looking _up _at people. Something he just did not do. It was then that was when he realized that he no longer had the body of a muscular twenty-six year old man, but that of a fourteen-year old. _Fourt-fukin-teen_, he thought, _what the hell happened_.

He was worried now. He was twenty-six but also fourteen. It scared him. He was not used to big changes, he never scared, and he aged slowly; now he had lost twelve years in a matter of seconds. He did not like it. It was there, in the middle of his crisis, that someone wrapped their hand over the throat of the young Jashinist. This, in-turn caused the teenager to scream, or attempt to anyway, for the stranger had also managed to shove his fingers into his mouth. Hidan bit him hard, then he attempted to get away only to be tackled to the ground. That was when the man, or actually teen, spoke.

"Hidan you piece of shit, don't make a scene"

"Kakuzu, that you?"

"Who else" said Kakuzu as he lifted himself up and dusted himself off.

"Where the hell are we?"

"We will talk about this later" the words -away from here- hung in the air.

With that said, or unsaid, Kakuzu walked off, Hidan trailed close behind. They turned down a narrow street and made their way through the airless city. All the people they passed were too young, too old, or too thin, and they all had the same desperate look about them. Almost like they would do anything to live on, but the conditions got better. Slowly, the two were leaving the city. The houses began to get farther apart and the street became, if it were possible, even more uneven. Then when all the shacks were out of sight, Kakuzu turned into the surrounding forest. He followed no path, just wandered on, occasionally turning right or left; almost like he knew where he was going, which Hidan seriously doubted. Abruptly he stopped, maybe there was a method to his madness.

Ahead of them was a clearing with a small two story house. It looked like it had no furnishings, although it had a quaint garden growing in the front. It was traditional, with sliding paper doors and a porch that circled the house. Kakuzu entered the small dwelling, but did not bother to remove his shoes. This time Hidan could tell, the house had recently been _vacated._ He led Hidan through its sparsely decorated interior to a room that was/felt differently. If Hidan had to describe the sensation the room gave him he would have said that 'his shinobi senses were tingling'. Then they both entered.

Sasori was the only one in the room, but the feeling of unease would not leave. In its, the room's, appearance it matched the rest the home, meager, deprived of furnishings, but Hidan knew better. He may not have been that most sensitive shinobi, but he had been one nonetheless. Even He, who would have been an average shinobi, at best, had it not been for his immortal body, knew that there was something special about this room. Then it hit him, this was Sasori's doing. He had most likely used every seal, curse and, trap in his arsenal to keep this room sealed if Hidan had felt that something was amiss. All of which waiting to be triggered at the slightest mistake, a mistake that had yet to be revealed.

"Welcome Hidan", said Sasori

"Don't you fuckin welcome me, what the hell did you do to this room?" Kakuzu flinched at voice of his partner.

"Not much, I am not quite finished"

"Why the fuck did you do so much?", once more Kakuzu twitched.

"You heard the proposition?"

"From my fuckin heathen other half, yea I heard, what of it." , Kakuzu looked ready to explode.

"Then you know that we have been offered freedom from an eternity in hell and--"

"So, the hell do I get out of this?", Hidan questioned, while Kakuzu attempted to reign in his temper, to no avail. It seemed that anything Hidan did or said threw the masked ninja into a full blown venting session.

"Will you shut the fuck up you piece of shit, let him finish, and for kami's sake please stop cussing! With you it's fuck this, screw that, to hell with this, could you be anymore foul mouthed. "

Yes- if idiots with pride were Sasori's favorite verbal victims then idiots with tempers were Kakuzu's. Lucky for Kakuzu, Hidan not only was foul mouthed, and foul tempered, he also had a differing opinion on what made the world run. Money or faith, yes that was the main topic for their many debates. However, on this day all Hidan had to do was open his mouth to earn the wrath of the masked nin. Today, however, Sasori put a stop to the argument before it could reach epic levels. If things did get that far, they would be putting their mission in harms way, before they even started it, and ending whatever chances they had at ingratiating themselves to their world. Besides, Sasori was as notoriously impatient as Kakuzu was temperamental.

"Shut up, Both of you"

Both men turned boys paused, then turned to Sasori, "We have to work together, even if we don't like it. So just keep quit and let me talk."

"Good" He continued, "It seems as if the main force is the Shinigami, who live in the Seiretei, and we, who have yet to pass whatever test is needed to become shinigami ,are not there."

"One of us has to become a student or whatever it is, then rise in the ranks." Kakuzu said.

"Yes, we will slowly but efficiently take down the foundations that the 'Soul Society' rests upon."

"So what are we supposed to do, because it's real obvious that you want to be the one to go to the 'Soul Society'" came Hidan's question after hearing Sasori's plan.

"Yes, yes" Sasori waved it off, "I want to find more about these shinigami personally. You and Kakuzu should infiltrate the under ground, I am sure you will be good at that."

"There is always money to be made in the form of crime, so I suppose it will do. I doubt I could make any cash as a student shinigami", finished Kakuzu distastefully.

"As long as I get to sacrifice to Jashin, and I get a scythe" -this was from Hidan who looked nostalgically at his hand as if missing something.

"Very well we shall start tomorrow." Came Sasori's reply

"Before we leave this room though, there are things you need to know, Hidan."

"What?"

"Right, well nobody remembers their past life, so that means that you don't either, Jashin does not exist here, so no loud obnoxious praying." Said Kakuzu, he was obviously enjoying reproaching Hidan on his misguided praying habits, "If you have to pray do where nobody can see you, also don't let anybody know why we are here."

"Fuck No!" replied Hidan, "I will not stop praying because you, a heathen, tells me too and-"

"Hidan, have you ever thought that if you die in this world that you would not be able to see Jashin in the end?" asked Sasori

Hidan looked at Sasori, he was quite angry that a heathen had dared use Jashin's name, but on the other hand, he was right. Hidan did not know if he would be able to go to heaven, because he was still convinced that he would go to heaven for all the 'righteous acts' he had done, if he died in this 

world. He also remembered the old world/his- other- _evil_ -half promise to allow him to meet Jashin if all went well, and he really wanted to meet his god. It was any true Jashinist's wish come true.

"Hehe that shut him up"

"Shut the fuck up, heathen" said Hidan who seeded to think that Heathen was the most insulting that one could get, although it did not seem to bother Kakuzu.

"We start tomorrow", said Sasori who was trying his best to ignore the impending argument.

With , he left the room followed shortly after by the two arguing teens, one over zealous religious freak and one kleptomaniac. Yes, he mused silently, this was going to take some time, luckily his partner was not yet there to bother the hell out of him. Sasori was sure that his partner did it, the bothering, on purpose, which only irritated Sasori more. He hoped it would stay that way for quiet sometime, that he and his partner were separate, that is. He and Deidara just did not get along, and his, Deidara's views on art were atrocious. Transient…pathetic, true art was… immortal, ever lasting.

Next chapter more bleach characters are seen

Reviews would be nice. To help with the writing

I think that Deidara and Itachi will enter by the fifth chapter possibly fourth.


	4. Seeing the Shinigami

Chapter 3: Phase 1

Today was the day that all three would set out, hopefully to complete phase one of the plan. That was, for Sasori, to get himself nicely situated in the Shinigami school. He knew that getting in would be no problem, he did after all have a reatsu. Phase one also meant for Hidan and Kakuzu to get into the local underground. Hopefully there would be some sort of hidden crime organization, that would be somewhat similar to akatsuki. A crime organization that was over looked by the shnigami because it was not a threat, meaning that they were out for themselves and not against the shinigami. Sasori was sure that any organization that openly expressed it's hatred for their rulers was disposed, quietly. Just like any hidden village would.

So it was in the morning that the two groups split off, when they entered the city. Sasori went to the upper part of the city, it would be strange if the 'Soul society' was not at the center; everything about the group screamed elitist. They were out for number one, and that was themselves, so why they would need to invade the old world was beyond Sasori. It was his job to find out, him and whoever else decided to infiltrated seiretie with him. That was another thing that bothered him, the name 'Soul Society', obviously this whole place was for souls so why only the noble soul and shinigami live in the place called Soul Society. It was another thing to add to the list of 'why I don't like the shinigami'.

It was also while wondering the streets that he once more heard the name Shiba.it rang a slight bell, a name that he most likely put in the back of his mind until he had needed it for later use. So he searched his memory, and found himself recalling the first night he and Kakuzu had seen each other after their deaths. The employee who had so rudely interrupted a conversation not meant for outside ears, and whom they, Sasori and Kakuzu had dubbed 'the hybrid'. He had said his name was Shiba Ganju. So at this point Sasori decided to listen in, if the man's name had enough power to be mentioned commonly in the streets maybe there was something to him, though he did not look or act special. There were two men, neither of which whom noticed the young man following them silently, and also neither of whom made any attempt to silence their voices. Although, that might have been due to his heightened shinobi sense of hearing.

"Yes, Shiba Kūkaku"

"What about her?"

"She helped those ryoka who invaded the Soul Society recently", _Interesting_ were Sasori's only thoughts.

"Why? She has always been such a sweet girl?"

"Sweet? Are you kidding, that woman is one temperamental, and, over protective sister, there is nothing sweet about her."

"Well you did not answer my question, why would she help invaders enter the seiretei? I mean its not like they've done anything" this wasn't good, not everybody hated the 'Soul Society' as much as he did.

"Well from what I heard, they had an older brother, he was a shinigami and a good one at that, he was lieutenant to the third, or maybe thirtieth, squad… Now this is where the details get sketchy, somehow he got into trouble. Don't know how so don't ask, and he was killed by a fellow shinigami, one who was also from a noble family. For that, and the Shiba seem to despise the shinigami because of it."

"Really, out of revenge for a brother?"

"Actually no, they've made up with soul society, the one who killed the brother apologized, apparently there was a legitimate reason for it"

"So what? they've just been forgiven?"

"Yea"

With that said, or heard, Sasori left. He no longer had any real reason to listen to them anymore. So he passed then silently moving closer to the center of the city, which no longer stank of it's human habitation. He mused silently over what he had heard, and what meant little more than to those two men meant a lot to him. In one single conversation he learned of a recent break in to the Soul Society, a resentful or formerly resentful shinigami family and of the high esteem nobles were held in.

He traveled upward, and unlike the people has passed he was not tiered. In fact he was surprised that the others were; the incline was not steep at all. He had long ago left the smell of stinking refuse in the 78th district and was shocked, and disgusted, to find that life was much better for those that made a decent income. The quality of life jumped in but a few streets. People went from living in tiny hovels to decent sized two story houses with terraces and walls between themselves and the outside world. It annoyed Sasori that the people did not seem to care that there was such a vast difference between the quality of life between the two classes. Still Sasori was not naive, he knew that most likely it was hard for these people to keep their own quality of life where it was and did not have enough money to help others. Especially to those who were so drastically poor. If anything it should be the job of the nobles to aid those, the poor, who were in need. If Sasori had known the saying C'est la Vie, he would have applied it to the situation. His stomach growled in complaint, he had walked to morning away, and it was now midday.

He continued up the street and the road leveled, and no longer on an incline he tripped, slightly, but still, he tripped. It was then that he accidentally ran into the shinigami who had chased him down that day in the street. He looked to be about eighteen and had his red hair done up in a messy, high ponytail. He had tattoos on his forehead and in the place of his eyebrows, and they trailed down his neck. He wore the normal garb of a shinigami but with a strange badge with the number six strapped across his arm, what ever that meant. Needless to say Sasori was tense, if he could feel the man's reatsu then the man could most likely feel his too. Sasori attempted to get away, but he had bumped into him and that made a very disgruntled shinigami. The man turned and grabbed Sasori by his hair and attempted to pull him towards him, at wich point a very ruffled Sasori shouted.

"Let me go, I told you before! I don't swing that way" to that the shinigami jumped away after the glares he got from others in the street.

That was enough time for Sasori to sprint away, but not before hearing, "What was that?" from another shinigami.

He turned to see the red haired one answer a blond one, then turned right before running straight into another shinigami only this time he had an immediate reaction. He crumbled over his stomach in pain, his stomach searing, only to see not one pair of feet but two. He looked up at the faces of the, not one but two shinigami. One was a man wearing a white robe over the traditional yugata of the shinigami, he also had a silk scarf tied around his neck and kenseikanin his dark black hair, and all of this pointed to the obvious, that he was a noble. The other was a girl who appeared his age. She also had dark hair but her eyes were dark blue to his grey, and they both wore identical looks of shock on their faces.

"Hello, are you ok?"- this was the girl.

"….", Sasori had opened his mouth but nothing came out, and his stomach gave a sickening lurch. He rushed over to the nearest bin where he promptly emptied his stomach.

At that point his legs gave out underneath him and he collapsed to the ground. The only thoughts running through his mind were things along the lines of damn shinigami's reatsu and making me pointlessly weak. He was not used to being this weak. Neither was he used to having to eat, or even breath for that matter, they were pointlessly human habits and his old body had not done such pathetic things. Yet now, here he was collapsed form hunger and a biting pain in his gut the likes of which he had never experienced.

He felt arms lift from his position on the ground, which he tried to shake off, it was all rather pathetic and he did not like it. When the shingami would not leave him alone he resigned himself to be carried over to bar whose trashcan he had used. It was then that he turned to the female shingami who had carried him to the bar, she was looking at him while smiling gently. Something he was not used too, kindness, he had led a hard ife and he immidiatly did not trust her. Swnsing his mistrust she looked at the menu.

"Go ahead and order, I'll pay"

"Hn" a non committed answer would do

"Say thank you it's the least you could do, after all she is buying you a meal"- this came from his other side, and from, Sasori realized with a start, the man who had chased him down almost two weeks ago.

Sasori turned to his own menu and gave a polite "than you" he was not one too needlessly incur the 'wrath' of others. Besides he could get information from the two, and the girl had been traveling with what he recognized as a captain, a man who even though had already left , would be quite useful to know.

They both placed their orders and within thirty minutes he had a steaming bowl of pork soba in front of him.

"Itadakimasu", he said politely, he had to play the part, after all.

"So what's your name?" the girl asked trying to get him to talk, it did work, but not to the effect she wanted, meaning he answered but nit with a reply she could use.

"It is impolite to ask another's name before giving your own" he replied smoothly, with anybody else it would have sounded rude, however, he twisted his voice so that it was devoid of emotion, and as such, just the statement of a fact.

The red head made a sound of annoyance to which Sasori responded to by looking at him, also emotionlessly.

"No, no your right" she said, smiling tightly at the red headed shinigami, "My name is Kuchiki Rukia"

"Hn"

"And this is Abari Renji " she said motioning to the red head on his other side.

He gave a curt nod before asking, "What's your name"

Sasori paused, he did not want to give his real name, so he had to come up with a suitable sounding fake one. He hoped that the silence at least sounded felt like a silence made from a lack of trust, and not like a silence made by brooding thoughts. Finally he decided that it would be best to talk to Kakuzu and Hidan, it would be bad if they called him Sasori in front of the shinigami. So he did the smart thing and ran; he had, after all, finished his soba. So fast was he that he had jumped out of his seat and into the street, before the two shinigami could react, and had already been lost in the crowd by the time they began their chase. He had made it out, although he did not consider it luck, it was skill.

* * *

The shinigami, on the other hand, were not so lucky. Renji had been having a regular day, he had gone out with Kira for lunch and was going to meet Rukia there. He had arrived early and was waiting, like he did most days. Kira was in a store buying candles so he could do some late night studying, and Renji had decided that he would wait outside the store. He did not want to go inside because those kinds of places always gave him a head ache, he was allergic to the loud smells of those nasty things. It was then that some kid tripped and fell practically barreling over him. What made things worse was that the kid, who was now know to be around fifteen or sixteen years of age, had tried to run away. So Renji had done what any self respecting shinigami would have done, he grabbed the kid. Then he, the kid, had done something so sneaky, evil, so underhanded that it made Renji's blood boil.

He had shouted, 'Let me go, I told you before! I don't swing that way' and that of course had caused Renji to jump away, because he, Renji, did not swing that way either. Then the kid was off, and he was fast, one second he was standing an arms length away and the next he was down the street. After that Kira had come out, and to make things worse he, kira, had been laughing at Him, Renji, and he, Renji, did not lke it. So he made to follow the kid, and when he did finally get near him Renji was irritated to see a very disgruntled Captain Kuchiki with the same boy at his feet. Then Renji did a double take, and actually backed away.

The kid, whoever he was, was sitting on the ground with his legs crunched in front of his body and his arms curled around his stomach, an expression of pain written across his face. But what shocked all both Shinigami, four including Kira and Rukia, was the amount of reatsu that the kid was pumping out. The air was thick with it, but his was different, it manifested itself in the shape of threads. Then the kid got up and ran to the trashcan, at which point Kuchiki-taichou decided to tell him to find out more about the kid. Then he left, like he had more important things to do, which Renji seriously doubted. So Renji helped the boy into the bar with help from Rukia. The boy ordered pork soba and ate lunch, in which time he found out only about the boys intense mistrust, which could be said of most people who grew up in the poorer part of town. Then he used that insane spped of his and was gone before either had a chance to react.

Now, Renji was walking to his supiriors office, and he was dreading it. Having to tell Kuchiki-diachou that he had not captured, or even leaned anything about an _untrained_shinigami was damned embarrassing. He entered the headquarters of the sixth division and made his way to the daichou's office, where he paused in front of the door, hoping that he could just walk away to no avail.

"Renji-san, please enter" said the captain as Renji suppressed a curse.

"Where is the boy?"

"He got away."

"Hmm", he used this simple syllable to indicate his displeasure.

"Yes, he seemed untrusting and thoughtful, but most of the population in the farther districts are mistrusting."

"Is that all you learned?"

"Yes, but is the kid really all that important?" asked Renji, not really understanding the situation.

"I don't know" answered the captain.

There was no scolding for his failure, and Renjifor one was not going to question that. This meeting a had gone better than expected, even better than some where he had actually succeeded on his mission. The fact that it was strange for kuchiki Byakuya to hold his tongue did not register to his fuki-daichou as strange. Neither did it occur to him that it might be for reasons other than his competence that caused so drastic a change in his captains behavior. No, while the mind of Kuchiki Byakuya was not blissfully unaware like the mind of his lieutenant, it was turning. His mind, as well as every other shinigami captain's in Soul Society had one thought on their mind. That thought being the kid with the strange reatsu, more specifically how to find the kid and possibly recruit him.

Said kid, Sasori, was, at that very moment in the room, the protected, discussing the days events with Hidan and Kakuzu. He told them of his encounter with the two civilians and their discussion of the Shiba family, and of his encounter with the shinigami. All in all, he had to conclude, his day was completely unproductive. However he had come to a decision, if they were to have aliases, they had to create then together, and even more important, they had to reestablish the old connection that they held with the rings. Then Hidan and Kakuzu told him of their day, which had been far more productive, as well as rather unlucky. They had also run into shinigami.

* * *

(Kakuzu and Hidan's day)

The two teens had parted from Sasori at the edges of the city, they went towards the slums where, hopefully, they would find some manner of organized crime. They traversed their way through the maze of streets without having any idea where they were going. It seemed there was no way to accurately memorize the twits and turns of the roads, as the two had tried. So they came to a decision, that they would have to count on their luck to get them out, that or bribery according to Kakuzu, and prayer according to Hidan. Bribery being sticking the money under a persons nose and running away before they could take it, after getting the needed information, and prayer being sacrificeing the nearest pedestrian to jashin and hoping for the mercy of the god. Either way, be it fate or luck, what they were looking for actually attacked them literally.

Hidan had just bought a new weapon, to replace his scythe, temporarily, of course. It was a sick looking blade that was slightly larger than half his body. It was a jagged, double edged sword that occasionally had a barb to cause extra pain and he had conciently strapped to his back, similarly placed where his scythe had once stood, without a sheath of any kind. Needless to say, the two looked dangerous. One black haired sixteen-year old with more stitches than one could count and strange eyes that were green with no visible pupils and a black sclera. Hidan, though younger, was equally frightening to look upon, his white hair and violet eyes were in contrast to the teen next to him who was tanned.

The two gave off such an air of danger that the men from the Okashinse gang almost passed them up, but it was not every day that they found two untrained shinigami that did not seem aware of their power. So it was to the misfortune of the gang members, and the fortune of the two teens, that they, Hidan and Kakuzu, were ambushed in a side alley between two of the small houses.

Kakuzu immediately realized the problem and got out of the way, but Hidan, who was a little slower on the uptake, ducked just in time to avoid a blow that would have served his head from his neck. Although, Hidan redeemed himself quickly, for he had already drawn his new blade by the time the attackers removed themselves from their hiding places, there seemed to be seven in total. It was then that they, the attackers, realized the naivety of their previous thoughts, namely the thoughts about the two boys being easy to take care of. Hidan had already dispatched two of their numbers, and was currently watching as their bodies faded into nothing. While Kakuzu had managed to steal their wallets and other personal affects before they, the two bodies, had vanished.

Hidan then turned, swinging his sword violently at those unlucky enough to be within a five foot radius of himself and his blade. His charge caught another of the men, and Kakuzu, once more, took his wallet. It was then that one member, who had wisely decided to keep himself hidden, left his hiding spot, right behind the murderous Hidan. Hidan, who did not notice the man, was busy swinging his sword crazily at a man who was barely managing to defend himself with a trashcan lid. The man chose that moment, right before Hidan swung a killing blow at the one quivering behind the trashcan, to shove his own blade through Hidan's heart. Hidan paused and looked down at his chest, at the blade that was poking through his chest. Then the man, whom Hidan had been about to kill took this moment of shock to shove his own blade through Hidan's gut.

Then to the shock of both men, Hidan began laughing. He yanked the blade from his stomach, then used it to decapitate the man in front of him. The man behind him was lifted to his feet, then tossed aside after a sickening crack had been heard from the man's neck. Two of the last three men attempted to run away, only to be stopped by thick black chords wrapping themselves around their legs. Then the chords would their way up their bodies and began strangling the life out of them. Then all the bodies vanished in a flash of blue light and fading blue sparks.

Hidan was obviously happy about something and he soon reviled, "I was worrying about that, ya know, seriously, I was wondering if I would die if someone stabbed me"

"Me too, I had been it has been a pain to hold back my temper incase I actually did kill you"

"Shut the fuck up man" said Hidan as he wiped the blood onto his cloths.

"Hehe" Kakuzu laughed darkly

The two boys made their way towards the lone survivor of the attack, who had managed to get as far away from the two boys as possible, before the black chords wrapped around the him. Kakuzu, who was better at finding out information, began the interrogation, however Kakuzu's skills were not even needed.

"Please, have mercy" the man begged, "Please, I'll tell you anything"

"Why did you ambush us?"

"We work against the shinigami"

"Listen and stop your pansy ass whining, we'll let you live if you tell us where your base is", this was from the white haired Jashinist.

"Base, I'll… I'll take you! Yes!" He breathed, "I'll take you"

Hidan sneered, but Kakuzu looked pleased, intimidation was still easy for him.

They followed the man through the city. He wove his way through it like a needle through cloth. The man knew where he was going. That or he was just trying to lengthen his own life by leading Hidan and Kakuzu in circles. Then the man turned down a small road. It was dark, as the walls on each side were high and did not let in much light, this gave it a somewhat ominous feeling. Though the feeling was not enough to deter the two former Akatsuki.

Then thick smoke was filtering it's way through the street from the direction that the two wee going. It clogged their breath, and in the dim light they saw fire. It had spread to all the buildings ahead of them. It leapt form on structure to the other as paper was a very flammable substance. The man who had been leading the two took this moment to jerk quickly away from the two and away into an unnoticeable alley far from the fire. Saying some thing along the lines of, "Shinigami burned our hideout"

Kakuzu grabbed Hidan by the collar and dragged him down a similar alley also leading away from the fire. After all, if the shinigami knew about the organization, and had already done something about it then there was no point in joining it.

That was how the two teenagers found themselves traveling down the alley and onto a larger road, with sooty clothing that smelled of smoke. Really, it was more like one was traveling at a brisk pace dragging another down with up an alley clearly enjoying the annoyance he was causing the man.

And if people were taken aback by the looks of the two they would have been traumatized, yes traumatized, by the words coming from _one_ of them.

"Kakuzu you bitch, if you don't let me go you're gonna to be cursed in hell. Fuckin Heathen, disrespecting my rosary like this, you going to be punished, trust me. I can't wait to see it happen. Mother fuckin bastard. Seriously." Hidan practically screamed, in Kakuzu's ear

Indeed Kakuzu was holding the rosary, but only holding it. Still it was enough to earn the rage of the over-zealous, religious man. It was that same man who had earned the interest of Captain Zaraki Kenpachi. _Seriously_, as the boy had put it, _it was not every day that you heard a fourteen year old that could put sailors to shame_, thought the over-zealous captain who lived to fight.

So when the teenager who wasn't cursing his ass off turned to reprimand his partner, who was cursing, the captain took his chance to 'speak' to the cursing teen. He was in the mood to get in a brawl, to entertain himself as killing the hapless conspirators earlier in the day had done nothing to amuse him. He stepped out of his spot in the shadows and the older of the two teens, the one who was not cursing, ran into him. What he expected was a cussing teen with an attitude, which admittedly is what he got, however he was not expecting the two massive and unusual reatsu.

Zaraki stopped.

He stared.

Kakuzu turned, Hidan Stared.

Both turned and ran, but not before the captain had their strange reatsu firmly memorized. _There would be time to find the two strange teens tomorrow of the day after_, thought the captain. So Captain Zaraki Kenpachi turned walked back to soul society.

* * *

A.N- The captains discuss the newbs with the strange reatsu. Sasori finds a way for them to talk like they did with the rings. Then the Akatsuki enter soul society.

The next to enter will be Deidara and Itachi. I might even add them in the same chapter.

By the by- Okashinse gang-completely made up.


	5. The woes of the shinigami

Sasori was annoyed, it had been three days since their encounter with the shinigami, and so far they had very little improvement. Sure Sasori had managed to reconnect the lost mental pathways. Yes they could now speak to each other without opening their mouths. No, in that respect they _had_ made progress. It was the invading of soul society that where the words no improvement came into play.

If Sasori could point fingers could point fingers they would have gone to Hidan and Kakuzu. He blamed Hidan because, he was constantly muttering his prayers and praising Jashin and _not_ looking for the captain that found him. Kakuzu because he found time to count his (stolen) money, but _not_ gather information on the infamous thirteen squads. In short Sasori was doing most (all) of the work and it was getting on his nerves. Of course he did not show it (god forbid that he _ever_ show _any _emotions).

On the outside Sasori had his same angelic smile that threw so many people off, but on the inside he was pissed off. He was also extremely impatient, and prone to anger when kept waiting (not that anybody ever saw the results of his anger), and three days, for Sasori, was indeed a long time. No, they had to start working… _immediately._

How, one might ask, would Sasori get the criminals Hidan and Kakuzu to get of their lazy asses (according to Sasori) and work? Simple, He took away their forms of entertainment… not so simple. For Kakuzu one just had to take away his collected money, or attempt to burn it (basically threaten to get rid of it in any way). Sasori's predicament for Hidan was different and more difficult. How does one go about threatening, or getting rid of, a being that might, or might not, exist? One doesn't. Sasori settled for taking Hidan rosary (the idea is simple but actually doing it is another matter entirely).

So when all three akatsuki men were properly motivated, they began their real mission, or at least what they took to be their real mission: infiltrate Soul Society. The three were ready to begin; first they would need more information, then they would need to 'accidentally' be found.

AAAAAAA

The same could not be said for the shinigami, they did not know where to begin. When the presence of the three strangers was first discovered the captain-commander had ordered all captains and lieutenants to find information on the strangers, or the strangers themselves. They had been given three days to find anything, then all the gathered information would be presented and the matter discussed.

Yamamoto- taichou was sitting in his usual chair, waiting for his captains to enter so they could begin the meeting. He released as breath as they began to enter. Ukitake followed by Kyoraku, Unohanna and Amagai all took their places and waited patiently (at they _looked_ patient). Then Kuchiki came followed by Kurotsuchi. Finally Soifon, Komamura and Hitsugaya arrived. With all the captains present the Commander felt it appropriate to begin the session.

"You all know why we are here. Let us begin with those who actually saw the young shinigami. Kuchiki- taichou please" he turned his head and motioned for the captain of the sixth division to begin.

"The boy that I saw was of sixteen years of age, red hair and brown eyes. He was rather small, but extremely fast. His reaction to being neat my reatsu was normal, as he collapsed and threw up.", the captain paused. "His own signature however was different. It felt like strings or wire tumbling in his body and reaching out. While it was not massive there was a fair amount especially for one un-trained. " He finished.

"Interesting", commented the captain Kurotsuchi a malevolent glint in his eye.

"Zaraki- taichou you saw the other two I believe"

"Yeah, I saw them. Two of em. One was a silver haired brat with purple eyes and a loud mouth. The other was older, maybe… eh, seventeen, he was all covered up, so I could only see his eyes and they were weird. Green on black, that's all I can tell you about the way they looked." He paused and scratched his head, "Now this is the messed up part, their reatsu. The older of the two, with the mask, his reatsu also felt like chords, but rather than reaching out they… stayed inside. The silver haired one's reatsu was real thick. It wasn't massive but it filled every part of his body, clung to it basically, and it moved funny." Zaraki finished.

"Kukukukuku." Was all that came from Kurotsuchi.

"Now who would like to share their reports first?" asked the Captain-commander.

To this the captains sweated (exclude Kurotsuchi and Kuchiki), and some shuffled their feet nervously (again exclude Byakuya and Kurotschi). None of them voluntarily stepped forward. _Meaning one thing _thought Yamamoto, _nobody found anything. _

"Am I correct in assuming that nobody found anything?" He asked.

Again there was more nervous shuffling.

"Ok…" _well this is embarrassing _were the unspoken words not voiced by Kyoraku.

"You had three days to find out more in theses little children, and you found nothing", came the calm, measured sentence from the captain commander.

"…"

"Unbelievable."

"The captains of the Gotei thirteen were outsmarted by mere children, does anybody want to explain why?",asked Yamamoto.

"…"

"hmmmm", clearly he was not pleased.

"I wish for--", he sputtered, "What do you want Kuchiki- taichou?"

"I found an informant."

"… and why didn't you tell me this earlier?"

"I wanted too see if any of the other captains found anything."

"Very well, bring in the informant" was the demand from captain commander.

The captain of the sixth squad clapped twice, and turned his gaze to the door. All the other captains followed his eyes and saw the doors open on the lieutenant of the sixth squad and two others. They were leading in a man who had burn marks on his arms and soot stains on his pants. A look of 

understanding passed over Zaraki- taichou as he saw the symbol tattoo on the man's bear chest, the symbol of the Okashinse gang. The look on his face was one of absolute horror as the was led up to the seat on the captain commander for questioning.

"What is your name?"

"ch-Chi-s-sen Hach-irou",he said through the chatters of his teeth.

"Chisen Hachirou, Why were you captured?"

"i-I was c-cap-tured be-be-cause I was in the inokai-district where the bur-ningof the o-oka-sh-shin-se buil-dings took place"

"Why were you there"

"I-i-I was le-le-leading t-two boys t-to the b-b-base"

"Why were you leading them to the base?"

"W-w-we a-attacked them in a-an a-a-alley and th-th-th-they k-k-k-k-k-", his agitation and fear seemed to rise as he recalled how he met the strange shinigami.

"what did they do?"

The prisoner was gasping for breath as he answered, "th-they k-k-k-ki-kill-ed th-em"

"They killed who?"

"e-everyb-body who a-attacked them. B-but me.", came the mans shaky reply.

"Everybody who attacked them!? How many was that?" asked the captain-commander urgently.

"m-maybe… 6"

"Did they use their spirit pressure?" Yamamoto was calm once more.

"N-no, it didn't look like th-they knew how to use it."

"Why did they ask you take them to your base?"

"Th-they d-id not really s-say", came Hachirou's shaky answer.

"What did they look like?"

"O-ne h-had s-s-sil-ver h-hair and v-v-violet eyes. He f-f-f-f-fou-fough-t like a d-d-demon and w-w-w-when the sword s-s-s-s-stabb-ed him he did-n't d-d-d-d-ie!! ", sobbed the man, who was clearly remembering the scene.

This caused an uproar among the shinigami. Whispers from things such as he didn't fade away to I NEED TO EXPIRAMENT, from Kurotsuchi were herd from the captains. Yamamoto had other ideas though, he wanted to finish the interrogation.

"What about the other one?"

"The o-other one was t-t-taller, o-older but i-I c-could n-not s-see h-h-his f-ace, his e-e-e-eyes they s-s-scared m-me the m-m-most, g-g-green on b-b-b-lack. H-he also h-h-h-had some s-sort of b-black ch-ch-chord coming o-o-out of h-h-his b-b-b-bo-dy." Was how Hachirou described Kakuzu.

Once more there was a reaction among the shinigami. Many of the captains were questioning the ability to use the chords, while Kurotsuchi was once more exclaiming about experimentations. Yamamoto cast a glance around the room to silence them.

"How did you separate from them?"

"I-I got a-away b-becau-se of the f-fire"

"That was around the time you were discovered by Kuchiki- taichou?"

The man merely nodded, too afraid to speak.

"You may take him away", said Yamamoto to Kuchiki.

Said captain nodded his head to his three subordinates and they began to take the shaking criminal away. However before his lieutenant could leave he called him.

"Renji"

"Yes taichou?"

"stay here I think you have some important information for the counsel."

"What the information? Kuchiki-taichou" asked Hitsugaya, the young captain clearly did not like being outmaneuvered by any captain.

"A few months ago he chased a thing with a strange reatsu. He did not know what it was so he did not bother to report it-" Kuchiki was cut off.

"And you think it was one of these strange new shinigami." finished Kurotsuchi.

Kuchiki nodded.

Yamamoto coughed in a dignified manner to signal that he did not like being interrupted, because Kurotsuchi had taken his line.

"Very well weshall hear Renji's account of this run-in", the first division captain said.

Renji shuffled nervously.

"Why were you chasing this person."

"There was a report from a local that a man had gone missing from his house a few days ago. They also said that a kid had taken his place. I went to report on this." Was Renji's very professional reply.

"Did the locals give a description?"

Renji shuffled more before answering,"… Red hair and brown eyes"

"What happened?" asked Yamamoto, with his eyes _slightly_ narrowed.

"I got to the house and was inside when I…" he paused and shuffled more, "felt a spirit pressure from outside, it was going in the opposite direction and had come from the house. So I chased it and it…" Renji paused once more out of embarrassment; "got away, he was fast" he finished lamely.

"Did you feel the reatsu signature?"

"Yes, but not well" Renji said quickly, "but it was strange"

"Why did you not report it?" asked Yamamoto through gritted teeth.

"I did not think it mattered" Renji answered truthfully.

"You are dismissed" Yamamoto said to Renji, "Kuchiki-taichou make sure your lieutenant does his work properly" the captain commander said as an after thought.

Renji flushed, making his face clash with his hair.

"Does anybody else want to add anything?"

"…"

"Of course not" came his dry reply.

"We will have another one in three days time, please try to find _something _useful in that time… also Kurotsuchi- taichou, if you do find one of these strangers then do not experiment on them" he added that last part as an after thought, and he was thoroughly cursed by said captain for it.

"I declare this captain's counsel over."

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Meanwhile Kakuzu and Hidan were wandering Rukongai. They had seen sent by Sasori (kicked out of the house) to find information on the thirteen- court- guard- squads. Sasori had guessed that each squad specialized in different things, and that it was common knowledge what they specialized in. If the locals knew it then, to blend in, the three of them would have to know it too. That was how Hidan and Kakuzu got stuck in the middle of the road, on a hot day, asking questions about the shinigami, in a discreet way.

They had both bought rain hats to cover their faces since they had been seen by the shinigami captain. Kakuzu went the extra step of avoiding eye contact so they would not see his eyes, after all, as they had discovered, purple eyes weren't uncommon.

Hidan was speaking to a woman in her late twenties, and Kakuzu was speaking to a man in his fifties. Each said the same thing that every other person had. They knew that the 9th division was one that dealt with news- paper and magazine related issues. They also knew that the 11th division was associated with melee combat and swords only combat. Information on the other divisions wasn't given as freely, as nobody else seemed to know about them.

That was when they passed a blond- haired shinigami with a flip that reminded them of their former companion, of course it was smaller, and the seal of a fukutaichou. He was speaking with a busty 

woman with strawberry- blond hair who also carried the seal of a vice- captain. They were talking in low voices and heading into a bar, and both former akatsuki decided to follow. The two vice-captains sat at a table in the corner far from any other and began talking in hurried whispers over two cups of sake. Kakuzu and Hidan sat at the table nearest that of the fukutaichou's and tried to listen. It was hard, and the two lieutenant's words were hardly heard even with the shinobi's sensitive ears. Finally they were able to hear and what the two vice- captains were speaking of, the three "mysterious newbies".

"Man I heard, from my captain, that the Captain-commander was really pissed at the meeting." Was what the woman said.

"Yeah, Renji said that they really interrogated him, and after that his captain was furious with him." Snickered the mini- flip man.

"Captain said that we have to find information on" hic, "the three newbies… OR else", was the woman's reply, it was clear she was drunk, yet still whispering.

"What are they" hic "supposed to look like?" hiccupped mini- flip.

"Reedd hair, brown eyes" she slurred.

"X-cuse me?"

"what" hic "they look like"

"oh…"

"and the oothers" hic "whaat do they look like"

"mask and weeeird-like eyes" was her drunken reply.

"there were threee, what does" hic "the last one look like?" asked mini- flip between hiccups.

"siiilver hair, violet eeyes"

"WOW!" too this other people turned their heads, for it was no longer a whisper, "Sorrrrry… heh"

The shinigami lieutenants looked around at the people staring at them, including Hidan and Kakuzu. The busty- blond looked specifically at Hidan and addressed him in her drunken slur.

"Whah-t are yooou looking at?"

"Nothing lady, seriously"

"it looooked like yoou were looking at me." She said suggestively (drunkenly) to which her companion looked at her funny.

"No we were about to leave" interjected Kakuzu.

"Yeah, seriously"

With that the two stood up and walked out of the bar calmly, far away from a possible fight with a shinigami- lieutenant.

"We have to tell Sasori"

With that said both men made their way to their hidden home in the forests outside of town. Through the slums, past the gates and into the forest they ran as fast as they could. When they reached the door Hidan began banging the door, while Kakuzu stood calmly to the side. Sasori opened the door, and before Hidan could begin he motioned for them to come in. They entered the sealed room and Hidan opened his mouth.

"The shinigami are looking for us!"

Sasori stood with the same blank look on his face, "Yes, I thought they might."

"I thought they might! What kinda answer is that?" demanded Hidan.

"An obvious one"

"What the fuck, w-" Kakuzu, who was watching on the side, cut Hidan off.

"Look it won't stop us, we want to be discovered eventually, we just have to came up with cover stories for why we ran away. We just have to act… innocent, or more innocent that we actually are."

Too this Sasori 'smiled' and said, "Exactly"

"So what the fuck should we say?"

Sasori and Kakuzu looked at him and shrugged. The three spent the rest of the day coming up with suitable stories to convince the shinigami of their 'innocence'. When that was done they made up fake stories for their entertainment, and they told Sasori about mini- flip and the busty blond. Too that Sasori could only respond with, "Good God another Deidara."

ADADADADAD

Sorry the update took so long. I deleted it accidentally and had to start over. I'm kind of glad cause this one is better.

Deidara and Itachi are coming soon if not the next one than the one after that.

You have no idea how hard it was for me not to write n00bs every time Yamamoto spoke of the akatsuki's.


	6. Three enter Soul Society

Sasori was eating lunch at a local bar. He sipped his sake delicately and waited, silently. He had chosen this location for his 'capture' by the shinigami because it was in the middle of town, where shinigami often wondered. It was a good place for a chance meeting. He turned his head, causing the rain hat that covered his bright hair to jingle merrily, contradicting the mood he was in at that moment. Sasori was irritated, he was **not **a good person to be around when he was annoyed, and it was all the damn shinigami's fault, they kept him waiting. Anybody who knew Sasori would say that he was very impatient. He had been sitting in the place for an hour, not even his idiot former partner kept him waiting that long! Finally his chance came in the shape of two shinigami captains, one with long white hair and the other wearing pink.

Sasori put down his sake bowl and 'stiffened', they both sat down behind him, at a private table. Sasori pretended to fidget for a while, waiting for the opportune moment. That moment came when two drunken men began fighting. Sasori smiled to himself as he backed up. One man was pushing the other towards him. The first man punched, the second man jumped back to avoid it and Sasori gracefully jumped to the side to avoid it. By then the shinigami had noticed that fight and had stood up. Sasori once more avoided the two brawling men and began to leave 'urgently'. Then one of the men pushed the other into the retreating Sasori casing him to fall with the man on top of him. His rain hat clattered to the floor and rolled to the feet of the shinigami captains.

He quickly pulled himself out his position under the man and speed walked to the door. The brown haired, wearing pink, grabbed his arm, but Sasori tugged it free and began running. He hoped that they would be able to catch up to him, however was surprised when the white haired one appeared right in front of him. That time his startled expression was real, the shinigami was much faster than expected. The captain then poked Sasori right above his collar bone, inserting a small amount of reatsu and causing the former shinobi to collapse, unconscious.

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Deidara was floating above a hole. It was approximately 10 km in diameter, if his artists' eye knew anything- and his artists' eye knew a lot. Art was his favorite thing in the whole world, after all. His purpose was creating those life- like sculptures that could move as if actually living, then BLOLWING THEM UP- it was what made him happy. Life was good, and it was also transient, just like his philosophy. Or so he thought.

When one died they were supposed to fade away, become nothing, they certainly were not supposed to hover over their body (or in it, as Deidara's body was thousands of tiny particles floating around him). _Where is the fading, where are the explosions?_ (or something similar) were Deidara's thoughts as he floated over the massive hole. He dismissed them abruptly and began to ponder his other dilemma, one far more serious than the lack of transience.

That issues was: what was he going to do? He had been floating there for a while with no signs of leaving, and with nothing to Deidara knew he would most likely… explode. He wasn't impatient like his former partner Sasori, he was just the type that needed to have their hands full.

Deidara was not the kind of person who did well doing nothing. The people who knew that filled all of his free time with boring- odd jobs, after all some of his most spectacular jutsu were the result of free time gone… wrong.

_Patience_

Deidara was also not the kind of person to hear random thoughts. He jumped around expecting to see somebody, but nobody was there.

_Patience_

Deidara swerved in mid- air, only to find himself being tugged away. He desperately tried to keep himself in place, to resist the invisible outside force that was trying to move him, but alas he had nothing to grab onto. So as it was, Deidara found himself being dragged over and under trees, to a place that he did not want to go, a place with the Uchiha fan.

He watched as the two brothers had an all out Genjutsu war (though it looked like they stared at each other). He heard what they spoke and twitched when Itachi lied. Then watched in awe (though he wouldn't admit it) as the two traded shots, each getting more dangerous as the last. He saw, Sasuke fall, and Itachi move forward, limping, and he also saw him give his brother a gift, then heard what was whispered. Then he watched the elder of the two Uchiha fall and join him in death.

He looked at Itachi, Itachi looked at his fallen body. Then they saw Zetsu pull himself from the earth, then retreat back down, quickly followed by a zooming Tobi (Deidara stared at him, mouth apart, eyes bulging). Itachi looked like he would rip Tobi's throat out, but remembered he was dead and wouldn't hurt him anyway. Tobi commanded Zetsu to dispose of Itachi's body (much to the shock of Deidara and the indignation of Itachi). Than the two deceased shinobi followed Tobi as he carried Sasuke away.

It was there that Deidara (and Sasuke) learned of the biggest deception of his life. That being betrayal of the Uchiha clan, and both Itachi and Madaar's (Tobi) roles in it. Much to Itachi's dismay Sasuke belived him. He hadn't planned for it to end like that. It was then that both of them heard the voice again (well, actually it was Itachi's first time).

"_Greetings to ye, oh mortals._"

"Don't screw with me yeah? What happened I'm supposed to be dead! Hn."

"Actually, Deidara- san, you are dead"

"Shut it, Uchiha!

"_He's right, you are dead._"

"Then why am I not fading, Yeah?!"

"_I was getting to that, please be patient._"

There was a long pause, until Deidara sighed a "fine"

"_Excellent, I am offereing what I offered your commerads before you. It would be best if you said yes, as it is the smartest answer._" The voice paused.

"_Because of your many crimes in life_, _in death, you would be tortured till you sins were cleansed from your soul_", Deidara snorted and brooded, and during that time the voice directed itself to Itachi, "_You could skip the whole ordeal should you wish it, but it will be better for me if you went, and better for your brother as well._"

Itachi also paused to consider.

"_Should you want to forgo the torture, you have to become my spies in another world._"

Itachi looked at no one in particular, "What exactly is 'you'?"

"_You shall find out in time. Now what is your answer?_"

Deidara, who had been silent, spoke up, "If I say yes, then when this is done, I can go poof?"

"_If by go poof, you mean non-existence, then yes you can._"

Itachi looked at Deidara, trying to discern his intentions, mainly, why would he want to disappear.

"Ok, I'll do it."

Itachi nodded, "I will as well."

"_Good, now as precaution, let no one other than your former comerads know who you are, if you do let it slip, you shall be punished personally, by me. Try to infiltrate the ranks, you want to find out information, and do other sorts of spy stuff._"

_Wow professional,_ were Deidara's sarcastic thoughts.

"_I heard that (directed towards Deidara), lastly you two will want to work as a team._"

Deidara looked shocked, "What about Sasori? He **wanted** to be tortured?"

"_No, no, it's just, he has already been discovered, and if you acted like you knew him, people would get suspicions._"

Itachi looked around, "How do you know what happened to Sasori? You haven't told us how to contact you."

If the voice had a face, then the face would have been smiling, "_Very good, Itachi- san, you are perceptive. As for your question, I will let you figure it out for yourself_. _ Goodbye._"

With that both men found themselves being consumed by nothing (strange concept), then opened their eyes. Deidara saw a massive market, rundown, but large, while Itachi saw a pint- sized, ten year old, Deidara, then looked at himself and saw the same. Even down to their new ratty, old style clothing (In different colors of course).

"Shit" He let out a very uncharacteristic curse.

"What was that Uchiha?", asked Deidara as he scratched his head, stopped and took in the young Uchiha's appearance, perhaps that of an eleven year old Itachi.

"Well… shit is right." Said Deidara as he looked down, then up at the other people (something he hadn't noticed before).

Itachi was about to comment on it again, when he saw Deidara tackled to the ground. He jumped into the alley after him, to avoid the same embarrassment.

"Hidan- san" Itachi greeted.

"Shhhhh!"

"What? Hn."

Hidan, a much younger Hidan, looked around before answering, "They're watching." He whispered.

Itachi smirked and Deidara straight-out laughed.

"Don't laugh, it ain't funny." Came a voice from behind them.

Deidara jumped, Hidan went up to his partner, "Where the fuck were you? I was waiting in the market when these two show up, seriously."

Kakuzu, a sixteen year old Kakuzu, waved some notes in his face, Hidan muttered something that sounded suspiciously like, fuckin heathen.

"Hidan, you shit, shut up." Kakuzu turned to Deidara "So you two were killed next?" He looked at Itachi, "I never would have expected you to die, maybe Tobi, but not the genius Uchiha."

"Heh, 'Tobi' has be-" but Deidara was cut off by a quick kick from Itachi.

Kakuzu picked up on it, "What did Tobi do?"

Itachi sighed, and gave Deidara a look (a don't tell them my story look), "Tobi is Uchiha Madara."

"Uchiha Madara? He's as old as I am."

"Who the fuck is Uchiha Madara?"

Kakuzu looked at his partner, "I'll tell you later, now we need to explain."

"They're looking for us, we can't be seen together. They've already put Hidan and I together."

"Who are **They**? Hm?" Asked Deidara

Hidan leaned in and whispered, "The shinigami! Damn it." (it was a whisper by Hidan's standards)

Deidara was about to laugh again, but Itachi cut him off, "You're not joking are you?"

Kakuzu answered, "No, the shinigami are what control this place. They are who we have to infiltrate."

Itachi nodded while Deidara stood by in disbelief, "You expect me to believe that a whole bunch of death gods live here and control the laws? That they don't go around ending lives? HN?"

The stitched up man gave an exasperated sigh, "It's not shinigami in the sense that we know them…"

Hidan pictured the stereotypical shinigami, complete with horns, curse mark and scythe.

"… and this is death, they are like shepherds to the dead. In-"

Itachi interrupted, "In other words, they ferry the souls to the realm of dead."

Kakuzu nodded, "They deal with other things too, but that's all we know."

Kakuzu looked around and said gruffly, "We've got to go."

Itachi nodded and turned, leaving Hidan to argue with his partner, Kakuzu said something along the lines of 'Hell does run on money' and Hidan erupted. Deidara trailed after him.

"So, we don't want to reveal ourselves to these shinigami, but we do want to rise in the ranks" Itachi brooded.

"How do we do that?"

Itachi looked blankly an his new partner, "We lie"

"Yeah, Yeah."

"Also it seems like we will have to pretend like we have been here a while –"

"To keep from arousing suspicion, I know", the blond cut him off.

"We will also have to be somewhat civil to each other."

Deidara stopped walking and looked at Itachi, the man he hated. Well, now that he had learned the true reason of why he was in the Akatsuki, he couldn't hate the man- boy actually- per say. It was more like a deep resentment for his near perfect eyes (nothing was absolutely perfect) and the fact that he had stolen the blonde's freedom. Not even his freedom actually, the illusion of freedom that he had created himself. Then there was the fact that Itachi hadn't even want to be part of the organization himself, yet had forced him (Deidara) to join. Still, things being as they were, Deidara had no choice but to accept that more than just a hateful tolerance was necessary. He gave the Uchiha as serious a look as he could muster (which wasn't much considering the fact that he looked eleven) and nodded.

"So, what do we do now? Hm?" Deidara said after throwing his hands on his head.

Itachi shrugged, "No, Idea."

Deidara looked at him incredulously, the words, _The Uchiha doesn't know,_ running through his mind.

Itachi looked at his blonde companion and gave a small smirk, as if he knew what was going through his mind.

Deidara frowned, "Fine"

He stormed off, right into the side of a bust red- head in a black cloak. After which, he immediately fell onto the ground while grabbing his stomach. The lady turned around, took one look at him and nearly fell over in shock.

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Rangiku Matsumoto was walking down the road, quite innocently, when quite suddenly something bumped into her side. She looked around expecting to see some little pervert running away, what she got was quite different. A little blonde was crouching below her, clutching her stomach, a 

young black haired boy was doing the same, but he was farther away, and not on the ground. But what shocked her the most was the reatsu of the two children.

The girl's was a wild energy, never stopping, always moving, almost exploding (scortching). It would be difficult to use, and harder to tame. The boy's was even more frightening, it almost wasn't there. He had lots of energy, but it was difficult to feel, and constantly moving, but more like a river, not like the fierce wind of energy that his companion possessed. It was it was also almost impenetrable, and when she got too close it burned, so she kept her distance, but sent a hell butterfly to her captain.

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Itachi was smart, the moment he, no the moment Deidrara fell over with stomach pains, he realized that the woman was a shinigami. Itachi tried too inch closer, but upon getting closer too her he also felt the pains that were assaulting the blonde, just not as strong. Then she summand a black butterfly, and Itachi could only assume it was going somewhere, so he did the only thing he knew how to do, run. He sprinted towards Deidara, pulled him away from the woman, and they both ran towards the safety of the crowds in the market place.

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Hitsugaya Toshiro was responding to a summons from his lieutenant. She had said that she had found two more children with strange reatsu patterns. Not five minutes later she said she had lost them. So it was, he had called two other captains (and two lieutenants) with him to search the area. However there was a problem, somehow, Matsumoto, bothersome second that she was, had forgotten the looks of the two kids. All she new was that they were around eleven or twelve years of age, and that did not help because 'eleven or twelve years of age' was quite common, take him for example. So it was, while he brooded, that he passed a young blonde, a blonde who keeled over and threw up. That was what did it. The young captain immediately felt the two foreign reatsu, and realized that they were the two he was searching for. He flash stepped infront of them, causing the black haired one to empty his stomach, and attempted to incapacitate them.

The two were faster than he had anticipated, but they ran right into the waiting arms of the two other captains, Kuchiki, and Komamura. They were quickly subdued, and carried off to the seireitei.

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Deidara was sure that they had gotten away, so when he passed the white haired boy, he paid him no mind, until he felt the pains, threw up and saw the uniform. It was then that he realized they were in deep shit, cause the boy practically appeared in front of them, _and_ Itachi… **threw up.** They both managed to get away from the young one, unfortunently, they had not counted on the old one being there. The canine appearance of the one who captured him was all he remembered before blacking out.

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Sasori woke up. He was in a dark, wet chamber, a chamber that screamed the word dungeon or prison. If he knew what was coming next (and he did, after normally he was the implicating the imprisonment) then he would be tortured for information. Maybe running away from them as many times as he had was a little suspicious, he thought wistfully. Still, these shinigami would not break him. He had endured far worse (he was the one who turned himself into a puppet, he could take pain). If he passed the test, he summarized, then he would most likely be able to enter the court guard squads. Too 

bad he had to seem innocent enough while doing so. If he did not reveal information, but still seemed guilty, he would not be trusted. He had just finished his brooding when a bright light illuminated the room. Two figures marched in, one, the mini- flip carriying an unconcios Deidara and one with a sixty-nine tattooed to his cheek, carrining Itachi.

_Hmm,_ He thought, seems _that my idiot partner was killed._

That being said, he knew things had just gotten a whole lot more interesting in the soul society. For better or for worse, the deceased akatsuki would make or break the seireitei.


	7. Red dawn goes to school

Naruto and all it's characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto

Bleach and all it's characters belong to Tite Kubo.

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Itachi was waiting patiently. His eyes were closed, his breathing even, his younger body curled in on itself. To any unsuspecting person, he was a cute pre-teen, thrown in jail for reasons unknown, and was sleeping away his worries, but he was awake.

His guard was talking to the one who guarded Deidara's cell, they were rather loud. For that Itachi was thankful, he did not have to strain his ears to hear.

"Yeah, Captain Soifon will lead the interrogation."

"Whewf," The other guard commented, "I don't pity them."

"I know what you mean," there was the sound of rustling cloths, the guard had turned to look at Itachi, "And they are so young."

"Mhum, I wonder what they did?"

The other guard shrugged, "Dunno."

Itachi opened his eyes slightly, sharingan activated, "I wonder how long it will take fort hem to break?"

Across the room, in a similarly blocked cell, was a smiling Deidara, Itachi had to press his lips together to keep a similar expression from his own face. A creaking could be heard from the end of a dark hallway stretching to the right, and both guards straightened their positions.

A female's voice sounded to the right, "You three, bind the prisoners, it's time."

The two guards and a third one, somewhere down the hall, opened the cells. Itachi's guard nudged him slightly, put bindings on his wrists, then shook him awake. Itachi deactivated his sharingan, then opened his eyes groggily, pretended to rub sleep out of his eyes and yawn.

Then he stated, "I'm hungry," as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

His guard looked at him with pity and bustled him out of the cell, across from Deidara was going through the same thing, albeit, more violently.

"Where are you taking me? Let me GO!"

They went single file, Itachi, guard, Deidara, guard, when someone blocked the path and joined at the front of the march, Sasori… and guard. The marched up a steep flight of stairs, filed through another hallway, the reached the outdoors, a white and utterly bland place, where they were guided to a closed building, where a skinny black-haired woman was waiting for them. She opened the door, where the guards pushed them inside and retreated quickly. Expecting the worst, Itachi steeled himself, mentally of course, years of being in akastuki had taught him not to show emotions. What he saw, he did not know what to make of. A line of nine people solemnly lined up, with missing spaces, to make it seem like people were missing. There was a kid, no older than then, a lipless man, an _old_ man, and a sickly man. Deidara relaxed, Sasori appeared somewhat frightened, but with Sasori you never knew. Not to mention the stomach craps exploded.

The old man, who was sitting in a chair at the front, tapped his walking stick, "Do you know why you are here?"

Deidara shrugged.

The lady, who had joined the line then spoke, "Look the ones next to you," she demanded, "Do you know them?"

Sasori spoke, "No"

Deidara looked at both boys, then gestured to Itachi, "Him yeah," the jerked his head in Sasori's direction, "that one, I don't."

Sasori rolled his eyes at Deidara.

The lady, presumably Soifon, moved foreword with predatorily intent, "Really?"

"Yes," this time Itachi answered. She turned her gaze to him, to which Itachi acted unnerved to.

He shuffled his feet uncomfortably until she turned her eyes to Deidara, who realized he should act afraid, he looked away.

"Who- No what are you?"

"S-sasori," the red head stuttered.

"Yes, ok, that's your name, but what are you?" she demanded.

"A person?"

"Really?" she smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes.

Sasori nodded.

"You?"

"Deidara"

"Itachi," they both said, practically at the same time.

She nodded.

"Can I experiment on them?" Asked the lipless one.

Sasori and Itachi looked appalled, Deidara actually recoiled.

The old man replied, "No, we have yet to decide what to do with them."

The woman looked at them, "Why did you run from us?"

Itachi looked at her levelly, "You were chasing us, what did you expect."

She narrowed her eyes, "You ran before we started chasing you."

Itachi looked down but answered, "What did you expect us to do when we were in so much pain." _Like now, _he added mentally.

"What about you?" She directed this at Sasori.

He looked down again, "I was afraid."

"Afraid of what?"

"You, the sh-inigami."

"Why would you be afraid of us?" Queried the boy.

Sasori looked him in the eye, "Because shinigami aren't exactly liked where I come from."

The old man looked at him now, "And where do you come from?"

Sasori pretended to deliberate about telling them, when in reality he was trying to remember a name, "… District 80."

The old man nodded.

"You two?"

Deidara answered, "District 78."

The old man stood, "They haven't broken the law. Soifon step away, they are free to go," he paused to appraise the boys, "on a condition."

"You must join the academy; you are to train to be a shinigami."

They just looked at him, "If you do show signs that you are hiding something, then you will be arrested, and judged by the law."

"Ok… fine by me," Deidara assented.

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Sasuke Uchiha sat in a cave. He didn't know where he was, or how he got there, but that wasn't particularly important. What was important was the man before him, or what the man had said. It made sense, it really did, and in that moment, Uchiha Sasuke decided that Konoha would taste his revenge… so would the man named Uchiha Madara.

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Sasori was perplexed; he had thought that the interrogation would be more strenuous, with lots of painful devices, maybe some screaming, and definitely lots of blood. What he got was… boring, he hadn't even had to bat an eyelash, and he was a shinobi so he could act. The only thing interesting he found was the lipless captain, experimentations were fun.

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Itachi was walking, thinking about his brother actually, and how he hated Uchiha Madara at that moment. They were walking though the seireitei, towards what Itachi believed to be the school. Deidara was next to him silently brooding, not something that the blond engaged in often, so something was wrong. It was just that Itachi did not know what to do, besides they hadn't exactly been friends in the organization, so, he thought it best to leave Deidara alone. Besides he had his own problems to worry about, namely, Madara, and what he would do when he arrived, now; Itachi wasn't a person who normally considered torture, however everyone broke their rules occasionally.

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Rangiku Matsumoto was boozing with Kira, her captain wasn't around, she had paper work, but she didn't care about that, and there was sake. She had a good view soul society, she was half drunk, and there were four other bottles of sake waiting for her, life was good. It got better when she saw her captain, leading around three boys about his age. She did what any insane half drunk lieutenant would do to their captain when they were skipping their work, she talked him. This surprised the three following him, an angelic looking red-head, and the blond and black-haired kids from before. Seeing the poor brooding girl, she did what any half drunk woman would do.

Rangiku grabbed Deidara in her grasp and pressed him into ample bosom, "Awww! Look she's so cute!"

The moody young man did not miss this, "She?"

Itachi smirked, Sasori cocked his head and smiled, Deidara fumed. He would of said something, but the busty woman just pressed him tighter.

"Matsumoto!" Hitsugaya looked at his second in command, "You're strangling her."

This caused Itachi's smirk to widen, Sasori to grin, and Rangiku to loosen her hold. This in turn released a very, angry (and embarrassed) Deidara(how often could one man be mistaken for a girl anyway?).

"Girl?"

Itachi tried to control himself, Sasori hid his smile.

"GIRL?"

The drunk Matsumoto nodded, but her captain realized something was wrong.

"I AM A GUY! WHY DOES EVERYBODY QUESTION MY GENDER!?"

He began pulling at his long blond hair, "DO I REALLY LOOK THAT FEMININE?"

He pointed to the shinigami, "ARE YOU TWO BLIND? DO I NEEDED TO PROVE IT TO YOU?"

Deidara was breathing heavily, and Matsumoto's comment of, "Yeah, I not seeing it, prove it," didn't help.

He would have attacked her had two other captains not heard the ruckus and come to investigate, "What's the matter?"

Rangiku answered, "This little girl is confused."

Jushiro looked at her (Deidara), "What do you need help with little lady?"

Now, if he thought this would help, with his super comforting voice, it did not, the next thing he knew he had a very angry Deidara in his face.

"DO I LOOK LIKE A GIRL? DO I SOUND LIKE A GIRL? I AM NOT A GIRL!!"

"Ok relax, I can tell you're not a girl," to bad the captain Kyoraku added, "little missy."

Deidara took one look at him, then to his feet, approximating the distance between the ground and the man's head, took one flying leap, and landed squarely on the man's head. He then proceeded to grab the man's hair and yank all the whilst screaming the cry of I AM NOT A GIRL. It was quite amusing commented a sober Matsumoto later.

After about five minutes of tugging and two more minutes of unwrapping, a slightly bald Kyoraku walked away from the scene nursing a very bruised ego. Deidara on the other hand, wasn't triumphant, but at least not being emo, fuming would be the proper word for that particular emotion.

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Deidara looked up then around, he was in a bed, Itachi was in the room next door and Sasori was doen the hall. He quietly summarized the day, from listening to the guards all the way to the encounter with the captains. He tossed and turned, already he didn't like the face-paint-captain. Deidara looked down at his hands, then turned once more, the only reason nobody had noticed was because he had wrapped rags around them, he needed gloves, fast. Someone knocked on the door, Deidara opened it and saw Itachi. The dark-haired boy held out his arm. At first Deidara didn't know what to make of the gesture, but was shocked upon seeing fingerless gloves held it the Uchiha's hands. Deidara looked at him, a silent thank you passed between them, Itachi left.

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Sasori was not excited. It was his first day of school, a torture he thought he had left behind when he graduated in Suna. To make matters worse he was in a class that looked to be Deidara's age. It was annoying, and already he was getting stared at, but he didn't let anyone see his annoyance.

His first class was history taught by a Hishukoto-sensei. It was utterly horrible. He first introduced the three former akastuki, then made them say something about themselves. Then he began his lessons on the mod-soul, a thing that was put into a corpse for fighting purposes. Deidara put his book up and began snoozing behind it, Itachi looked at the teacher listlessly, they were both listening, they just didn't look like they were. Sasori pulled out a slip of paper and began taking notes like a good boy, he wanted to move up to a class with people his own age. Mod-souls were beings made by Urahara, for fighting the quincy… bla bla bla.

Deidara and Itachi sat below him, in the same row, and that was how it stayed for two hours, totally used up for the mod-soul, with more to come the next day.

After that they had sword skills, Itachi excelled at this, which was not surprising as he was anbu. Deidara did quite well to, he had used swords before, but did not use them often. Sasori on the other hand, wasn't bad, he just wasn't that good. He was a long distance fighter used to avoiding things. So he could dodge quite well, his offensive tactics with the sword were sadly, almost, nearly pathetic. So he was quite happy when the period was over.

The next class they had was kido, similar to jutsu, just with a long useless string of words instead of the easier hand-signs. All three boys proved to be excellent in this field, Deidara accidentally blew up the fence, classes were stopped and repairs were scheduled.

The class after that one was something similar to science and chakra control, this was where Sasori excelled, it was quite fun. Deidara on the other hand… blew something else up. Itachi was also good at this, but not, Sasori thought smugly, as good as he was.

There was physical education, where Itachi was the best by far.

The last class of the day was strategy, something all three bys were good at, unsurprisingly; you weren't an s-ranked criminal if you couldn't strategize.

Thus was how the former akatsuki men, criminals with pages devoted solely to them, were reduced to tired wrecks, especially Itachi, being the best at everything certainly had its downsides.

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Ok sorry I haven't updated in a while.

I have been wondering if I should do updates in life more often, like the little Sasuke bit.

If the story is going slow, it's because I like to work up to stuff, be patient with me.

bye


	8. Suspicious Shinigami

I don't own naruto or bleach; they each belong to their prospective owners.

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Hidan was rather annoyed, he had just gotten a mental alert from Sasori, apparently Deidara and Itachi had been added to their mental chain. That little fact was not enough cause his current mood (though the pansy did bother him). It was the fact that he had not prayed since he had died (not properly anyway, what good was worshiping a bloodthirsty god if he could not kill? It's not like the shinigami wouldn't notice random disappearances). Not only was he no longer a true worshiper of Jashin, he could count on damnation to boot (It did not matter what the home world said, Jashin did exist, and he would pay for his infidelity).

On the other hand Kakuzu was quite amused. Not only was he making money (He had gotten a job), but he got to watch his immature partner pms, well not literally. Things had been rather slow, the two akatsuki nin had covered their tracks and the Shinigami had not yet found them. Kakuzu had not found any information… Sasori had not exactly been transmitting anything (something about hard school and grades and trying to "blend in"). Well, it was not like he himself hadn't been busy he worked under a (rather stingy, slimy, insect-like) man who had the tendency to forget payment. Kakuzu understood, had he been in that situation he would also have tried to keep some of the money (but nobody double crossed Kakuzu). As such, he reported to work every day (he was a bounty hunter [again], though he only did small jobs) where he picked his job then dragged Hidan along for the catch (who was still a whiny bastard), he then cashed in hiss money (counted it) and left.

"You see Hidan," said a very smug Kakuzu one day, "Hell does run on money."

If you could put Hidan's glare to words… you wouldn't want to.

So with the promise of regular meetings and information trades, Sasori was off to another day of "school" (the red- heads exact words had been more colorful).

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Kyoraku was still smarting from the little blonds' attack (mad-rampage). It was not every day you got your ass handed to you by a blond boy (albeit, girly boy).

It was his turn to observe the ranks and he decided that even though the boy had gotten the best out of him, Deidara would be his special project (he had potential). Normally the apathetic captain did not think that the fiery type made good soldiers, but there was just something about this one, he wasn't quite as temperamental (or hasty) as one might think. Kyoraku planned to find out about as much about as the newbie as he could. He would also take the lucky (unwilling, annoyed, volatile) boy under his wing.

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Itachi watched as Sasori poured out perfectly executed Kidou techniques one after another. His chakra control really came in handy at times such as this (it helped all three of them actually). Deidara sat to the side messing with his hair, trying to make himself look masculine. Nothing interesting had happened, the three got mounds of homework as they had to catch up with their peers, it wasn't hard (for Itachi and Sasori) just tedious. Deidara had concentration problems; he thought that his time would be better spent perfecting his art. More than once Sasori or Itachi had to stop him from voicing his opinion aloud.

Neither had they found anything worth mentioning to Kakuzu or Hidan, which wasn't surprising actually considering that they had recently been considered enemies (it would have surprised them if they had found anything, it would have been far too easy). Although they had heard rumors, something about Soul Societies secret weapon in the world of the living. Itachi decided they would have to find out about that later.

He stood up, brushed his ebony locks away from his face (causing some of his class mates to swoon), readied his position, recited the long unnecessary incantation, cried the name of the spell out and watched as the target burst into flames. There was lots of applauding and more drooling (some glares from the guys) as Itachi made his way back to his seat. (Deidara rolled his eyes). There was more applause coming from behind him, Itachi's turned slowly and allowed shock and admiration fill his eyes as he greeted the captains.

"Captain Zaraki, Captain Ukitake," he bowed to show his respect, simultaneously contacting Deidara and Sasori through their mental links.

The white haired captain smiled and motioned for Itachi to straighten himself, as the teacher rushed up and bowed low to the visiting captains, "How do you do Sirs?"

Zaraki smiled that preditorial smirk (the only smile he possessed) as Yachiru danced on his shoulders.

_This is strange for them to be together,_ sad a suspicious Sasori as he watched the two captains converse with the teacher.

_Yes, my thoughts exactly, their differing personalities do not compliment each other, normally they do not interact, _replied Itachi_._

_That and Zaraki does not associate with people he thinks are weak, _commented Deidara, _So why are they here together now?_

_Us, we are anomalies after all, I saw the scientist watching us too, yesterday._

_Hn._

_Yes, well he wanted to dissect us, so that's obvious, _said Deidara.

Their teacher, Mister Yajiko, bowed once more and backed away slowly, once he was far away enough he straightened and turned his back rigidly walking towards the three.

"They wish to talk to you," he said motioning towards the captains.

_Who wants to talk to you?_

_Hidan?_

_Yes, now, who wants to talk to you?_

_You were listening?_

_Well it was Kakuzu's idea b…_

_Shut up Hidan, now who wants to talk to you?_

Itachi interrupted, _Two captains, their names are Ukitake Jushiro and Zaraki Kenpachi._

Sasori cut in, _Now you shut up; we have to talk to the captains._

_Fine._

_Whatever._

_Let's go,_ said Sasori.

With that silent command the three began moving towards the captains (who were curious about the delay, at least Ukitake was).

The three bowed, said their greetings and straightened.

"hello _ladies,_" said Zaraki, aimed at Deidara.

_Looks like Ukitake is not the only one that Zaraki thinks is weak, _smirked Sasori.

The blond fumed,_ shut up,_ but did not step to close; he still had hunger problems when he was near captains. Ukitake on the other hand suppressed the urge to raise his eyebrows. Zaraki just grinned harder, his eyes almost gleaming as they looked down at Deidara. Itachi just smiled in that mysterious way.

"We were just checking in, making sure you are ok," said Ukitake trying to stop the glaring.

Deidara turned to him, "Ok? I am fine. Except somebody told the teacher I was a girl! He was nervous when I walked into the room and tried to get me to change! Is that how you treat your students?"

Deidara crossed his arms, looked up and the captain and wrinkled his nose, then pointed and jumped; "Now everybody makes fun of me! Guys think I am cute, until they realize that I am one of them."

Ukitake did not know what to do (It wasn't like he had been mistaken for a girl),"Well, kids can be mean."

Deidara paused, "Kids can be mean?"

He said it like it was the first time he had ever heard it, then he turned around and stomped away.

_Hey, do you think that when he said 'see if you are ok' he really meant see if you are planning a rebellion?_

Sasori hid his surprise, _You were acting?_

_Please Sasori, give me more credit._

_Yes, I do,_ said a still smiling Itachi.

Sasori smirked (again), "Sorry about that," he bowed in respect, "he does that a lot."

"He looks like he would"

Sasori looked up at Zaraki, smiled his angelic smile and said, "You have no idea."

Itachi who was standing to the side, decided to enter the conversation, but not before something pink landed on his head. The thing fell to the ground, but bounced back up in the form of the vice-captain, of the eleventh division.

"Lieutenant Yachiru," Said Itachi politely.

She smiled brightly, "Weasel-boy! Where did Barbie go?"

_Barbie?!?!_

_You should run Deidara._

_Going._

"You saw him leave, didn't you Yachiru?"

She pouted, "But I wanted to play!"

Sasori backed away slowly; there was something about her that bothered him, maybe her hair color.

"Buggy!"

Sasori ducked skillfully as she leapt at him, she said, "You're no fun."

"We are doing well, but thank you for the checkup."

Ukitake turned his head away from Yachiru and Sasori to Itachi, "Oh, well, I can tell, actually, but if you do need help, we will see what we can do."

Ukitake walked away, Itachi bowed respectfully to his back, then to Zaraki, and left with far more elegance than their teacher. Sasori followed after him, whilst trying not to think about the girl he had so aptly named nuisance.

When the two got back everyone was staring at them, not just the girls who normally salivated at Itachi, but everyone.

_They've been doing it since I got back, apparently it isn't normal for students to be noticed by captains, _said a very nervous Deidara.

Sasori shrugged, put on his heavy lidded gaze on and went to his corner (far away from Deidara). Itachi went back to leaning against his wall; Deidara stayed where he was, then commenced to wait for the end of class.

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Shigekuni Yamamoto-Genryūsai sat at the head of his conference. He had sent Ukitake and Zaraki to see the new students. They had returned and were giving their report before the entire assembly.

"There is nothing to worry about, they are just brats with no use," argued Kenpachi.

"How do you know?"

Zaraki turned his head towards Byakuya, "They act like kids, they are too easy to anger and intimidate. They look twelve, the red head is fifteen maybe."

Soifon replied, "That does not mean anything."

"No, no I agree with Kenpachi, they are useless, just let me kill them, dissect them and then we will really know if they are dangerous or not."

Silence met this statement.

Genryūsai lifter his hand from his cane, rubbed his beard then spoke, "No, if they are… different, then they could prove to be a useful tool against Aizen, and even if we only kill one then the others will be wary of us."

"But-"

"No."

Kurotsuchi glared and muttered something that sounded suspiciously similar to damn it, but the other captains seemed to agree.

It was then that Ukitake spoke up, "I don't think that they are as innocent as we seem to think."

"Why," asked Captain Yamamoto, once more stroking his beard.

"Well, the moment we came up to them they seemed suspicious, like they knew something. Then they all moved foreword at exactly the same moment, without any verbal command. All three of them are exceedingly good at Kidou and are accomplished with swords. None of them have noble roots yet the black haired one knows the rules. There is something they are hiding, and we shouldn't let our guard down."

Komamura spoke up, his voice a mix between growl and baritone, "What should we do?"

Genryusai turned his eagle's eye to the Bestial Captain, "Soifon, you will be in charge of the other two, the ones still outside, You will receive aid from the third division, who currently has no captain, someone inform Kira. Each of you will observe the children, discreetly (He looked a Zaraki). Each week you will monitor a different child, this will keep away suspicion. If they do figure it out, you are to get out immediately. Understood?"

There came a silence of approval and every captain left with a mission, but not before he said this, "Ukitake, you will watch Itachi, Byakuya Sasori and Unohanna Deidara."

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Ichigo Kurosaki was running laps, but he could not seem to keep his mind on what he was doing. He had just returned from Souls Society but he was far from confident that the place was out of trouble. He had eliminated the Bounts, but there was something else, and he could feel it. It did not help that Rukia had come with news from the other side, apparently there were intruders, and it was his job to fix their mess (sometimes he felt like the garbage man). Couldn't the place stay safe for at least a little while? Nope, it would not survive without him, never mind the years that had gone by before him. Yes, he had decided. He would be paying a visit to Seireitei, it was a Friday and nobody would miss him.

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Deidara was out of his uniform, unlike most of the students studying to become shinigami; he did not wear it to breakfast, lunch, dinner and bed. He had his old ratty close on, and he stuck out like a sour thumb, but he did not like being like everyone else. In fact he hated it. Uniforms were not his thing, obviously.

He had decided to take a walk, it was dark, he had finished his homework, and he was bored. He had told his dorm leader where he was (so he wouldn't arouse suspicion), got a tag and began wondering the court of pure souls, but not before Sasori warned him to stay away from the Mayuri's (who knew where that captain would be hiding, he had been caught eyeing Sasori suspiciously just that afternoon). He made one right turn, a left turn and two more right turns and he was lost. He blamed on the fact that nothing in Seireitei was different (much like the uniforms). He put the tag in his mouth, made sure nobody was looking and jumped up on the roof of the wall; from there he saw pretty much everything, including a very bright light.

_Interesting…_

_What, _came the annoyed reply of Sasori.

_There is a light_

_Well we are already dead, so you don't have to worry about it._

_No you idiot, I want to see what it is._

_Tch, whatever,_ and with that Sasori was gone, but Deidara was pretty sure he rolled his eyes as he left.

Deidara shuddered, knowing Sasori long enough to be able to recognize his facial expressions without being there to see them, eww. With that Deidara walked towards the light, only to find himself in front of a giant paper door that stood wide open, with the black silhouette of two, no four figures in front of it.

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Ichigo was dead quite, not even a mouse could have made less noise, Rukia on the other hand sounded like a scared elephant, obviously she did not realize that there were sleeping people (who needed to stay asleep) in the house. They had changed and were sitting in his room waiting for permission to enter open the gaits. The time came and the portal opened, no incident occurred, he and Rukia left through the portal. Too bad they weren't as quite as he had hoped. Two pairs of eyes watched from under the crack in the door, and two sets of little feet followed as the doors began to close.

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Itachi was lying in bed, trying to fall asleep (it had been a long day) when he heard Deidara tell Sasori about the light, he did not pay attention. He did pay attention when Deidara said that there were people coming out of a glowing paper door, but he paid it no mind. Unfortunately Sasori thought it was quite important, and made Itachi get out of bed to investigate with him. So they followed Deidara's instructions and found themselves right next to him watching as one person tried to drag another back through the glowing door, only to have it close on them.

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Who did Ichigo mistakenly bring?

What is going to result from this meeting?

Which akatsuki is going to die next?

What is going to happen to Hidan and Kakuzu?

Thank you to all reviewers, I will try to update again soon.

I think I will send the three to the land of the living soon.


	9. From the World of the living

I do not own bleach or Naruto

_Mind talking_

Hn is Itachi.

Hm, un, or yeah is Deidara.

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Sasori watched as the people-but-maybe-not-things got closer, two were his age (or rather the age he appeared) and two looked younger. The tallest of the four was dragging the two younger ones by their ears and the last one seemed to be laughing. It was a whimsical sight, and Sasori was not in a whimsical mood.

Finally the four people became distinguishable, a carrot top with spiky hair in a kimono, a young woman, also in a kimono, and two young girls in shorts and shirts. Still most surprising were the weapons that the two shinigami carried (because they could only be shinigami) or rather the size of the katana that the carrot top carried. As they intruders approached Sasori decided it would be a smart idea to mask his chakra, after all it would seem suspicious if they were caught spying. Itachi and Deidara followed Sasori's example.

A bright light appeared as a door opened, in it's center were the shrinking shadows of an old man with a mighty beard and the young captain with the white hair.

They met (conveniently) right in front of where the ninja were hidden.

"Genryusai-san," said the carrot top with a bow, pulling the younger ones with him.

"Kurosaki-kun," acknowledged the old man.

_So that is the famous captain-commander, _observed Itachi.

_Hn, he doesn't look so almighty._

_Shut up brat, what he doesn't have in strength he will make up in strategy._

_Yeah, yeah, whatever, hn_, conceited Deidara.

The captain commander slowly turned his eyes to the two small children, "Who are they... Ichigo-kun?"

The female shinigami stepped in, "Genrysai-dono, please forgive us," she bowed, "but theses are Kurosaki Ichigo's younger sister. They followed us through the portal from the land of living."

The elder captain surveyed the two children with what appeared to be stern eye, however secretly he was rejoicing at his luck (in a very dignified manner).

"Hmmm," His steady gaze returned to Ichigo, "I suppose there is nothing that can be done."

The carrot top looked at the man, "Yes, but couldn't you open it-"

"No, I am sorry Kurosaki, but what you did was illegal and, even though I am a captain, I cannot break the rules of Soul Society."

"Yes, but-"

"I am sorry Kurosaki," said the captain commander in a way that sounded like he was dealing with a child.

Ichigo sighed, his sisters were happy; Genryusai had just solved a problem.

"So," he asked in his most grandfatherly voice, "what are your names," his eyes (almost) forming benevolent little crinkles.

The dark haired confidently answered Karin, and the other looked up in awe before answering Yuzu.

_What do you think he is planning?_

_Planning?_

Sasori looked between the two; _He's right Deidra, that man wouldn't just let two kids stay here for no reason._

Deidara looked between the two girls, _So you think that he is…_

Itachi allowed a tiny smirk to play across his lips, _Yes, he is going to use them to get closer to us._

Deidara cocked his head up, looked at the two sisters from down his nose and let a slippery smile twist its way across his face, _that means that we will meet them in the morning._

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Itachi had gotten up late. That didn't happen often, though he wasn't exactly what you called a morning person. This morning, however, he had let his bad habit get the best of him, and his first class was already halfway through. Upon entering he was shocked. There was no noise. Normally Sasori and Deidara were throwing mental insults at each other throughout the entire lecture, but the speaking space was devoid of any sound. The second was that there were two new students sitting in the third row, right below Deidara.

Itachi walked inconspicuously to his seat, opened his books and avoided the gaze of the glaring teacher. Then he questioned Deidara.

_Where is Sasori?_

_Dunno, hm._

_Why is he gone?_

_Don't care, yeah._

_What are they doing here?_

_Getting closer to us I guess._

_Hn._

_What?_

_Now you're asking me questions?_

_Yes. What are you thinking?_

_The old man._

_Yeah, what about him. Un?_

_He is separating us._

…

_Most likely he moved Sasori up a few classes because of his "age," if it were a matter f intelligence; he would have moved us all._

Deidara flicked his eyes over to Itachi, then back on the chalk board,_ that means that Sasori would have moved dorms too. Yeah?_

_Hn._

_Shit. Hm._

_We should tell Kakuzu and Hidan._

_Yeah, I'll try and get Sasori._

Itachi put his elbows on his desk and rested his chin on one of his clenched fists, then he let lose and tried to find the strings that signaled the zombie twins. He found two, each bearing the tell-tale-sign of Chakra and yanked.

_Fuck what was that for?_

_Shut up Hidan, Itachi what is it?_

_They are separating us._

Kakuzu paused but only for a moment, _Can't say that I couldn't see this coming._

_Hn._

_Anything else dumb shit?_

Itachi paused, _Yes, it was more of a fluke actually, but is seems like he has gotten some kids to get close to us._

_Nothing you guys can't handle._

_But it means that they are suspicious, you two better be careful…_

Itachi paused as two more consciences slid into the conversation.

_Seriously Itachi, who do you fucking think we are._

Sasori answered, _Two of the most destructive members of akatsuki, you are some of the most obvious S-ranked criminals in the books._

_Says that man, sorry, brat paired with Deidara._

_Hey what- hm._

_Shut up brat, they are right, but at least you have some self-control. _Sasori directed that comment at Hidan.

_Fuck, what-did-you-just-fuckin'-say about me?_

_SILENCE!!!!!_

All five men-turned children silenced at the unusually loud… comment made by the most silent member present.

Itachi continued without batting an eyelash,_ So what have you two discovered._

_We haven't actually discovered-_

_Anything fucking useful anyway-_

_Anything that we didn't already know_, shot Kakuzu at his foul-mouthed partner.

Hidan made a sound to voice his indifference.

_People in the bad parts of town despise the shinigami but are too weak to do anything about them. They attempted to do something about it before, with something called "bounts" but it failed._

_Hn._

Sasori chose to respond, _They will be searching for you now-_

_They already are, and they haven't fuckin' caught us yet, if-you-haven't-noticed._

Sasori continued unperturbed, _but it will with more force now. They also have someone tracking me, this "Ichigo –Savior of Soul Society-"._

_What?_

_Yes, _He directed his answer at Itachi, _apparently he wanted to explore the "full shinigami experience," _said Sasori dryly.

_So what, hm, he wants to go through hours of this useless excuse of an academy? Un._

_Apparently, wait-_

_Hn?_

_He's leaving._

_Leaving? yeah?_

_Yes, that other shinigami came and picked him up-_

Kakuzu's deepish-just-past-puberty-voice interrupted, _Which other shinigami, there are so many of them, it's like an ant-hill._

_You weren't there,_ answered Sasori; _it's the little black-haired girl we saw yesterday._

A crash interrupted Itachi's concentration, as he pulled his conscience back to the classroom. Still he concentrated enough on the open-space-where-minds-met that he could hear their conversation. Deidara was doing the same.

Standing in the doorway was a very angry black-haired man who was standing in a position that had implied that he had kicked the door open.

The two kurosaki girls both stared at the man, one in embarrassment and the other in oblivious delight, that one shouted, "Daddy!"

Then they watched as the man ran up to the girls and swallowed them in a gigantic –arms-stretched-out-eat-you-live-bear-hug.

Itachi said nothing; Deidara snickered, as the man continued to swing the two girls back-and-fourth like rag dolls, a big goofy grin plastered on his face.

Itachi could hear Deidara's laughter in his ear explaining what had happened to the rest of the members, but all he felt was a tiny pang in his heart. He looked away and out the window. That was when another crash revealed another member of the family, in the same position at the door. Father and son's eyes met and father immediately aimed a flying kick at his son's face. Itachi no longer felt that little tug; the man acted nothing like _his_ father, Fugaku Uchiha never openly expressed his emotions like that, and now, neither did Sasuke.

The two kept up their comical excuse of fighting all the way out the door, and, most likely, out the building, the older one still had his children held tightly under his arms.

He could still hear Deidara's laughter in his ear, and his time he joined in, chuckling lightly.

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The captains were together once again, only this time Kisuke Urahara and Yuroichi, had joined. After a rather embarrassing meeting with Ishin Kurosaski, Genryusai had opened a portal for the girls to go home in. Then it was time for him to start perhaps the mot important meeting he had ever called.

"We have orders from the zero division. The king wants new territory."

He was met with silence. Demands like theses had not been made since before he was Captain-commander.

The silence was broken by Kurotsuchi, "Impossible. The last time that happened shinigami won part of the hollow-lands, but the borders were tightened. We cannot take anymore land."

Genryusai looked up and down the line of shinigami, "It is a new world."

He was met with silence once more so he continued, "There is only one shinigami for this world."

Urahara spoke up, "Then it must be a tiny world, not even worth conquering."

Hitsugiaya looked shocked, but still managed to say, "Why?"

"One shinigami for too many dead, the world would be stinking with those not dying."

The captain commander chose this time to answer, "He has ferriers, those who take the dead to their final resting place."

More silence followed this.

"There is more, humans with unknown power, we will need to spy."

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Deidara was bored, classes had finished early and he had nothing to do. Hidan and Kakuzu were back to exploring the slums and Sasori's apartments had been moved. That was when he felt something. It was dark, it was strong and it had an arrogant feel about, most importantly there was something wrong with it.

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Ok, the shinigami will soon be aware of the ninja and will begin to up their guard. The ferriers will be powerful ninja's such as Yondaime Hokage.

Thank you to my reviewers, I appreciate the feedback and hope I am getting better.


	10. From the Hollow Realm

I do not own Naruto or bleach.

_Thoughts/ mind talking._

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Deidara immediately began to zero in on the oddity, around him he could feel other's doing the same and this time it was not just akatsuki, every capable shinigami he could sense was doing exactly the same. Even in the city he could feel able shinigami racing to aid their city. Yet of all the people he felt six stuck out the most, four were the other akatsuki, but two were the enemies-unknown. Then suddenly something occurred to him.

_If I am going to fight… I NEED CLAY!!_

He ran around his room till he found a suitable bag, then raced towards the only place he could possibly find his weapon of choice: the river.

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Sasori was busy setting up his new room as he felt the commotion, though he did not think much of it, that is until he felt the consciences of the captains close in on the outsiders. That was when he began to feel… excited, it had been too long since he had had a good fight, sparing with pathetic teenagers was such a pathetic way to get rid of pent-up-energy. Then he heard Deidara's frantic cry, and he too realized his dilemma. He looked blandly to the side before thinking,

_Shit, I need weapons too._

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Itachi immediately got a lock-in on the on the _new_ (akatsuki being the old) invaders signals, and all he could do was tick his tongue and thought, _They are not very subtle, though maybe… _

Itachi smirked ever so slightly; _It's a decoy, so… I wonder where they are really coming from._

He got up from his bed and began rummaging through drawers, looking but not finding what he needed. _Where do I find kunai when I need them? _

He walked out of his room quite calmly to find his weapons of choice, that was when he had a minor epiphany,

_Squad 2, they will have something._

That was also when Kakuzu choose to interrupt his musings.

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Kakuzu had been eyeing a fat merchant's fat purse when he felt it, those two obnoxiously loud chakra signatures smack-dab in the middle of the Seireitei. He chose to ignore it, for the moment, as he still wanted the bulging purse tied to the about-to-explode-man. Then he heard Deidara's cry, he fumbled his chance and missed and the merchant's guards hurried the man away, they knew what was amiss. That was when he really began listening to what the akatsuki were thinking, Deidara was running frantically to the river, Sasori was wandering around muttering 12th division, and Itachi was musing to himself. Hidan was napping…

He wacked his partner up-side the head then interrupted Itachi's thoughts.

_Where do you think they will appear?_

Itachi paused to think.

Hidan questioned blearily, _Who are where?_

Kakuzu rolled his eyes as Hidan jumped as he felt the massive auras.

_Shit, who the fuck is that?_

Kakuzu wished dearly he had been paired up with somebody else.

_We don't know._

_They will be on the hill._

_What? What hill?_

_The one in the middle of Seireitei, nobody ever goes there. It was where the corrupt captain Aizen declared his split with Soul Society. _

_Well who the fuck cares about that?_

Kakuzu briefly glared at his partner, but stopped as Itachi continued.

_It will appeal to his melodramatic nature to appear at the place where he deserted this place._

_Why the fuck would he do something as dumb-shit-stupid as that?_

Kakuzu thought he heard Itachi repress a sigh.

_Because he is like the true-leader of akatsuki. He wants the world, only… __**that**__ man wants the world to burn for his revenge, this Aizen, if my sources are correct, wants the world so he can sit upon a golden throne and play with his little toys._

Hidan laughed… hard. Itachi, when he used his sense of humor, was actually quite funny.

_What-the-fuck kinda of person wants to rule the world?_

Hidan laughed more, _Shit, Jashin-sama, he reminds me of leader._

Itachi smirked, he had said the **_true_** leader of akatsuki, and that did not mean pain.

Kakuzu ignored his partner and shouted, _DID YOU TWO HEAR THAT?_

Two different affirmatives were heard from Sasori and Deidara.

Kakuzu looked at Hidan, _We will meet Deidara at the river. Itachi, you find weapons and meet up with Sasori, we will meet each other at the bottom of this "hill" in thirty minutes._

_Isn't that a long time from now, it wouldn't take me that long to get my clay. Yeah._

_Brat, we need to see what they can do before we go off and fight them._

_Hm. Shut up Sasori-dana._

Kakuzu grabbed Hidan's collar and pulled him up, "Let's go."

For a moment Hidan seemed to ignore his partner, then something came over him, "This means we're going to kill these dumb-fucks."

Kakuzu let one side of his mouth slide up slightly in his version of a smirk. That was all Hidan needed too take the lead with a hazy look in his eyes and a teeth-bearing-grin slapped on his face.

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It didn't take long for Deidara to find the river… it did take a while for his to find suitable clay. By the time he was done his arms were covered in the smelly silt and he was blowing water out of his ears, but the only thing that mattered was the bag of wet ready-for-use clay held triumphantly in his hands. He joined Hidan and Kakuzu on the river bank, shook himself like a dog, untied his hair (which was surprisingly dry) and marched his way towards Seireitei.

Two fights were already taking place, one besides the east-entrance and the other by the tenth-squad's barracks. They still had plenty of time to get there.

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Sasori was seething. They were seven minutes late, he hadn't found any suitable weapons in the twelfth division and he was hiding in a sewer. Things were not going well for Sasori; the only things he had found were a few raw ingredients, those he was mixing with the filthy water in order to create poisons so he wouldn't be completely defenseless. Then the shuddering above his stopped. He carefully scaled up ladder and emerged to find what looked like the aftermath of an earthquake left in the wake of the two fighters. Itachi quietly appeared at his side to survey the damage.

_One of those two was the red-headed-savior-of-soul-society._

Sasori nodded.

Itachi bent down and preformed a few hand-seals.

Then they turned and approached the stair to the execution-grounds, only to find the other deceased akatsuki members already waiting there.

They exchanged silent greetings then quickly spread out, tightened the binding on their chakra signatures and moving away from the stairs. Hidan hid himself in shadows pulling them around him like a black-as-night blanket, Sasori transformed into a stone. Deidara used an earth technique to bury himself under ground, followed by Kakuzu with the same technique, and Itachi simply disappeared.

A few moments passed before a quite-as-mice group of four… hollows if it was remembered correctly, waltzed by the akatsuki hiding spots. They passed each man-turned-boy, until the very last was a soundless, invisible Itachi, and his imperceptible trap. An invisible smile almost played itself across his lips as the first monster lumbered into it.

The trap snapped around the monsters leg and sent tiny chakra blades racing up the hollows leg cutting its tendons, nerves and muscles along the way. With a roar that could wake the dead, the monster released the full scale of it's aura upon the world letting every captain within tem miles know of his location. The others quickly spread away leaving their lame friend and his useless bleeding leg behind.

Just as the last hollow managed to hide its own reastsu trail did the first shinigami show up. He was a man who appeared to be in his mid to late twenties, with a too-wide grin on his narrow face, and a blinding gleam shining off his bald head. He jerked his head around a few times looking for his prey, and when he found trails of blood he grew curios.

Two more shinigami appeared by his side, one of the being the Kurosaki boy, but he quickly followed the faint trail of another hollow. The last man was the barbaric captain, from the eleventh squad, and judging from the reverence he received from bald one, was also his captain.

The captain turned towards the direction that the carrot top had gone, then turned in south, his eye narrowed; he sniffed the air and was gone in the blink of an eye. That man was even more predatory than his subordinate.

_So three battles are about to start, _observed Sasori.

_Hidan and I are following the captain, he won't notice us._

Deidara paused; _I will follow the carrot top._

_As will I, _Replied Itachi.

Sasori paused, felt the four leave and changed his transformation slightly. Being a stone wasn't artistic enough for him. He had used the proper hand-signs and, within moments, had settled into a new far more comfortable transformation behind a basic illusion, and that was just in time for his too see the bald one begin the battle.

"Long time no see dick-head… what was your name?"

The hollow growled, them smiled, his white teeth bright against his dark skin, "Telling you my name would be a waste of time."

Baldy smiled as he drew his sword, the hollow crossed his arms.

"I think I remember you, you're the one that got his ass handed to him by Kisuke Urahara. Yammy… was that it?"

The hollow growled more, "shinigami!"

The baldy just smiled more, "I think you should know the name of your killer, its Ikkaku Madarame."

The hollow- an "arrancar" Sasori corrected himself- had let his arms fall allowing them to rest at his side, when he raised a fist suddenly. The shinigami tensed and sprung as arrancar shouted, "Cero," and let loose a massive energy cannon from his open palm. The shinigami landed slightly to the left of where he stood before, mocking smile still in place.

In the distance Sasori felt the carrot top explode with power as he fought his arrancar. Deidara and Itachi were on opposite sides of the field each observing one of the opponents. Hidan and Kakuzu were still watching their hollow-and-shinigami toss insults back and fourth. He smiled, _This will be an interesting afternoon._

The bald-man-now-known-as-Ikkaku charged his opponent sword raised, when he reached the hollow he brought the blade down with the full force of his weight behind it. The hollow blocked, but was forced to step back. Baldy lashed out recklessly again. His face was alight with a battle-mad-ecstasy and his mouth shaped itself into an even wider smile. He brought his sword down one final time, but the blade was caught, the arrancar had clapped his hands above his head, over the blade, keeping the eerily gleaming weapon from cleaving his in half.

The arrancar looked triumphantly down his nose, "What do you think now shinigami."

The shinigami's lips had curled into a growl, but he ignored the comment and pulled his blade away while shouting, "Hōzukimaru wake up!"

That was when the sword changed and in its place was a long bamboo staff with a wicked looking blade at its end. If it was possible, the bald man's smile got bigger as he charged the arrancar, who quickly released another cero. This time, however, rather than jump out of the way, the shinigami sliced through the ball of energy like a knife through butter. The hollow, sensing the danger, unsheathed his own sword and met the shinigami head on. Their blades men in a fury of strikes however the hollow quickly took the advantage.

The hollow- Yammy- had managed to get his bled under Ikkaku's defense and was running his blade along the side of the pole, using is as a ramp for his final blow. A blow that did not come. Just as the hollow's blade was about to reach the third segment of the staff, it broke apart, reveling a clever system of chains that pushed and pulled the three-sectioned-staff apart. Ikkaku flicked the oncoming blade away from his face with one section of the staff and pushed the blade towards the arrancar. Caught off guard, the arrancar managed to defect the blade with his hands away from his vitals. It buried into the flesh just above his collar bone.

The shinigami straightened the staff again to expand the distance between himself and the hollow. His eyes were wide with excitement, his mouth open breathing harder, yet still managing to smile, "I win."

The hollow appeared amused, "Wrong."

He vanished from the end of the blade and appeared behind the shinigami who ducked under the blade, but could not evade the fist that followed. Sasori turned his head to see the shinigami fly into a wall of rock. For a few moments all was silent, then the pile of rubble at the base of the wall began to shift as the shinigami pulled himself up.

_So, like ninja, these shinigami can take a lot. It seems that they are more than just civilians._

Sasori's musings were interrupted by a loud laugh from the shinigami, "This is more like it!"

The hollow bared his teeth and curled his lips. Then he raised his hand once more and threw a cero at the shinigami who only had time to bring up his staff in a semblance of protection. When the smoke cleared he was still standing but burnt and wheezing. The hollow vanished once more only to appear right in front of the shinigami. He placed one fist over the shinigami's face and created the largest cero yet. This time when the smoke cleared Ikkaku wasn't standing up.

_So the hollow won…_

_What are you going to do?_ Asked the distant voice of Itachi.

_What am I going to do…?_

Sasori smiled, an angelic smile, one that scared any ninja he had yet met. The sign of innocence corrupted scared most people, at least those who recognized what-it-was and what-it-meant.

_It's been a while since I had a good fight._

Sasori could almost feel Deidara's knowing smirk. The red-head preformed another transformation, this-time giving himself the body of a thirty-year-old man with bland features and the uniform of the shinigami. Nothing on his face would stick out, he was completely forgettable. Then he smiled again, this time more menacingly, and stepped out of the shadows.

Before the arrancar could blink Sasori had connected chakra stings to the body of the fallen shinigami and hoisted him into standing position. The arrancar sheathed his sword, but positioned his hand ready for cero. Sasori smiled more, _This one likes to use an energy blast, still it seems simple enough._

_We have seen it too, something called cero…yeah?_

Sasori didn't respond, he jumped out of the path of the energy blast, and maneuvered the shinigami in front of him, in the guard position.

_If only I could get his sword to change…_

Sasori jumped again, this tine he sent some of his chakra through the strings and to the shinigami's sword, with a swift cut he negated the effects of the cero.

The arrancar looked furious, "Damn you."

Sasori just smirked, then stopped, a look of surprise quickly crossed his face but was smothered before in the blink of an eye.

_So this is the secret of the shinigami's sword._

_What?_ Came the immediate reply from four different directions.

_Their swords have souls._

Hidan seemed puzzled… _What the fuck do you mean by souls?_

_Just what I said. Souls._

Sasori blocked his comrade's curios questions as he focused more on the soul in the sword and on the hollows repetitive ceros. He continued his attempts at talking to the thing, but the soul would not listen, it was avoiding him at all costs. Finally he found it, a bright red burning dragon with shadow claws and silver teeth. It's breath smelled of sulfur and its bulk took up most of the room, this was a creature to intimidate, but Sasori had seen worse.

The beast swiveled one bright red eye in his direction and growled, in a voice of stone. "**Who are you who dares contact another man's zanpakto?**"

"Transform."

The beast seemed insulted, "**What?**"

Sasori smiled his corrupt-rotten smile and the beast narrowed it's eyes, "You heard me."

The dragon tossed his head shaking the shadowy mane, and laughed, "**I answer to none but my master.**"

"Then you shall soon answer to none."

The dragon looked at Sasori, Sasori stared back, the words rang true in the air.

"Your master will die if you don't do something."

The dragon glared more, "**So be it.**"

Sasori blinked again and was on the battlefield, not half a second had gone by. Before him, the sword was transforming again, it was once more the three-pieced-staff. Sasori flicked his wrist and set the shinigami to motion. Ikkaku's body swung the sword around in a counter-clockwise motion; the arrancar pulled his blade out of his hilt to block the attack. Ikkaku pivoted, pulled the away from the sword then drove it point first, like spear right at the hollows chest. The staff grazed stone as the arrancar disappeared. Sasori flicked his wrist again to block the arrancar's attack from Ikkaku's right.

The staff broke apart again, then connected together immediately, trapping the arrancar's sword in the knot between sections.

Sasori smiled, the arrancar cursed. The red-head then flicked the wrist without his puppet and smiled triumphantly when the dart made contact, he did the same for the unconscious shinigami. Before the arrancar could do anything else he fell to the ground.

_Kakuzu, _he called, _I need your help._

There were a few moments of silence before a reply came, _Why?_

_I caught one of them and we need to hide him. Itachi, you come too._

Itachi consented and Kakuzu came, but not without warning Hidan about what would happen if he gave himself away, and they both made their way to disguised red-head.

_Our fight was getting interesting too, hum, whatever. Hidan! You better tell me what happens!_

_Seriously? _

_Yes!!_

Hidan groaned, but did not complain more.

Sasori greeted the other two akatsuki, also disguised.

Kakuzu picked up Yammy and Itachi Ikkaku.

"Take us to your base."

Kakuzu nodded and lead them out of Seireitei at a break-neck pace.

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Ok- that was the Yammy-Ikkaku-Sasori fight!

Yes before you ask the other's will get to fight too.

The ninja will keep their chakra abilities, but those abilities just won't be as strong. That will come into play later. They will eventually get their zanpakto and shikai, but probably not Bankai. No bankai because then I think that the akatsuki would be too powerful -and I don't like super-powered characters, they bother me…

So yeah, more fights next time, I hope that was entertaining.


	11. A Visitor from Home

I don't own bleach or Naruto

_Mind talking_

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Itachi was standing next to the hollow known as Yammi. From the grotesque jaw bone protruding from his face to his obnoxiously muscular body, Yammi was a prime example of body before mind, yet Itachi could not shake the feeling that there was something beneath the muscle bound exterior. After all shinobi were trained to look beneath the underneath.

Itachi shrugged away his feelings of mistrust, preformed the hand signs and executed one of the most complicated binding genjustus he knew. Whatever the arrancar really was, there was no way he was going to get out of his prison easily.

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Deidara watched silently as the battle unfolded. The carrot top was good, despite his short coming. He put all his effort into his swings and had plenty of power, but they were also ill-timed and ill-thought out. The dark haired one (whom reminded him of Itachi- DAMN HIM) easily dodged the strokes without even drawing his sword. Actually, it seemed to Deidara, that not drawing the sword was a source of pride for the dark-haired arancar.

Currently he was waiting for his dark-haired-ex-rival-partner to show up again. Which bothered him, after all, why was Itachi so much better that him, hm?

Deidara flicked a stray lock of hair out of his face and continued his observations. In fact his attention was so taken by the fight that he failed to notice a very strange chakra signature coming his way. He only felt it when it was right next to him, and only after it had spoken.

"Pst. What are you doing?"

Deidara nearly leapt out of his skin, and if the newcomer hadn't clapped his hand, over the younger-boys mouth, Deidara definitely would have screamed. However, that was not the case… thankfully.

Fight behind him, Deidara faced the newcomer while simultaneously warning his companions of the new development.

The man smirked, "Yeah, you better warn them, because this concerns all of you."

Deidara glared, but also took the opportunity to survey his opponent.

The man was tall but thin, with wiry muscle, and now that Deidara had a clear look at the man, he could tell that he really wasn't a man at all. The newcomer was closer to the age that Deidara would have been had he lived, around nineteen or twenty years of age. He was also striking in his appearance. He had a strong jaw, a long sharp-dagger like nose and high cheek bones. In other words, he was a foreigner. Too top it off; he had dark-brown mess of curls on top of his head and pale green eyes.

"You're younger than expected."

Deidara just smiled arrogantly, "So are you. Yeah."

The foreigner laughed, but without mirth, "Looks can be deceiving."

Deidara nodded, but before he could speak he was interrupted, "What do you want?"

The foreigner looked at the interrupter, "impatient, aren't we?"

The red-head just stared at him serenely.

"Very well, I _do _have to get home," the foreigner mused to himself, "I come bearing a message from the… the Entity."

Sasori blinked and the foreigner waited.

"Deidara, you wait here, I will take him to the base."

The blond just nodded, he would find out what it was soon enough.

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Itachi, Kakuzu and Sasori stood in a circle surrounding the foreigner. For his part the newcomer didn't looked intimidated at all. In fact he was smiling.

"So…"

Itachi said, "You were going to give us a message."

"Right, right so I was," the stranger smiled but did not elaborate; instead he seemed content to look around the room in which he had been sequestered.

Sasori twitched impatiently, "Well?"

"Hm? Oh, yes," he paused and began reciting from memory, "From now on you will be expected to give weekly reports. Every Tuesday somebody will come by to fetch the information. Those… beings will also give you new orders from the boss."

The stranger smiled; as if happy he had gotten it right.

"So what does that mean?"

The newcomer looked at Sasori, "It means we will need all of the information that you have gathered so far."

Itachi looked at the other two members present, "I'll get the files."

Itachi left the room.

Kakuzu met the stranger's eyes and crossed his arms, "Does this mean that there will be different people coming every week?"

"Yeah, actually I wasn't even supposed to be here. It was somebody by the name of Yodyame HooKagi or whatever."

Sasori and Kakuzu exchanged looks.

"Ah, so you know him. Well he is a fetch, or a ferrier or whatever other names they have."

Itachi had returned and handed the stranger the box of files.

"What's in here?"

Itachi answered, "Information about the twelve captains and the structure of soul society as a history of all that's occurred."

The strangers face went sour, "Oh, the… Entity will not be pleased. I was expecting troop movements, or something else important."

"Well it's not like we have a way into the heart of the matter."

The stranger smirked down at the fifteen year old Kakuzu, "You were given those bodies for a reason, and while I do not doubt that part of it was a punishment," he smiled, "the real purpose behind you youth is so that you will be above suspicion. So get to know the captains."

Itachi was staring at the floor processing the information that he already knew, when something else occurred to him, "You said that the Yondaime Hokage was a… fetch. So what does that make you?"

The stranger seemed truly surprised by this question and eve blew his curly bangs away from his face so he could get a good look at the one who asked the question.

He them smiled, but it did not reach his unnerving pale-green eyes, "That is a good question."

He then proceeded to leave.

"You did not answer the question," Itachi said evenly.

"No, I didn't."

Kakuzu then cut through with a question of his own, "If you are going to come again we can't say 'Hey you! Foreigner! Over here!', now can we?"

He looked at Kakuzu, "Huh, that's strange, you look foreigners to me, but hey to each their own. Oh and you can call me 'The Foreigner' for all I care," he paused, "besides, I won't likely be coming here again. Follow me."

"Why?"

It was obvious to both Itachi and Kakuzu that the foreigner was getting on Sasori's nerves.

"Because there is something else I need to show you."

Sasori twitched once more, he did not appreciate being spoken to as if he were a child.

"Hurry up."

The Foreigner led them through the maze of a town as if he had a compass pointing him in the right direction. Finally he stopped on the same busy market that marked all of their first tastes of soul society.

"Where is he?"

The stranger led them farther down the street to a section where merchants were hawking their fresh fruits. Finally he stopped and stood besides a crimson-haired boy who was about thirteen years of age.

"Ah, here you are!"

The stranger seemed to know him, "Hurry up, let's go back."

"Who is he?"

The boy turned to Kakuzu. His shaggy-blindingly-red hair covered his eyes and half his face, but did nothing to hide his gaunt cheeks.

"Nagato-san, how are you doing?"

The question, from Itachi, was relatively innocent unless you were reading between the lines, what he really meant to ask was 'How the hell did you die?'

The kid named Nagato looked at Itachi and answered, "Itachi-san, thank you for your concern, I am fine."

The translation was, I will tell _you_ later.

"Itachi, do you know him?"

Nagato looked at Sasori, Itachi answered, "You do too, this is leader, the man behind Pein."

There was a series of silent exclamations of surprise, especially from Deidara and Hidan, who had yet to meet the man-boy face-to-face.

The Foreigner looked at them and smiled at their unconventional reunion, "Well, I'll catch you later."

He turned around and made his way across the street.

Meanwhile, the akastuki were silently discussing their prisoner.

_Do you think we should give him up?_ Deidara asked.

_Why? It could give us leverage._ Said Kakuzu.

_No, it will be a hindrance._ Was Itachi's input.

_What if we get caught?_ From Sasori, _It wouldn't be good._

_We won't._ Came from Hidan

_We might. It would be best if we give him up._ Were the final words of Pein/Nagato

_That settles it._

_Fine._

Itachi ran after the foreigner, "Wait! We have something else we think you should take."

The foreigner paused and turned.

"Oh?"

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Deidara was silently reeling. He had just learned that Pein hadn't even been Pein, he had been somebody named Nagato. First Madara and then this! It seemed that akatsuki kept things from even its own members. Rage and annoyance chased themselves around his mind, but his face showed only the slightest traces of what was going on in his mind. Too bad his pondering caused him to make the same mistake twice. For when Deidara actually forced himself to focus he felt a familiar _reiatsu_ signature next to his.

When this registered he nearly jumped out of his skin a second time, and had to be kept from shouting a second time too. Deidara silently hit himself; he had gotten twice and would never live it down. Yes, because the captain of the 8th division, Kyouraku himself had plopped himself right besides the unknowing nin and had been waiting for him to notice.

"It's dangerous to be out, especially for a kid like you."

Deidara looked at the man in what hoped was an innocent manner; it seemed as it he did not see past the cute-kid façade.

"I was c-ccurios about what _real_ battle looked like c-captain."

He swallowed as part of his act; maybe he could even summon tears.

The captain looked away from the cute-almost-crying kid and sniffed, "Yes, well, you really should be with the other students. I would escort you back but I have a fight to break up."

_If a captain his here_, thought Deidara, _then it would make sense that other captains would be at other fights._

"Um, mister captain-san, are you going to stop _all_ of the fights?"

Kyouraku laughed at his _innocence_, "I can't be everywhere at once, but other captains will stop the other fights so don't worry."

Deidara smiled while inwardly shouting to Hidan, _Get the hell out!_

_Don't have'ta fuckin tell me twice._

From farther away Itachi also joined the conversation, _It seems as if we will be noticed if we are gone for much longer Sasori._

_Hm, we will be there soon._

Deidara broke the connection and smiled once more at the captain and began running back to the school. When he got back the teachers were furious yet relieved at the same time. Deidara inwardly smirked.

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The foreigner was looking down at the two bodies, one shinigami and the other an… arancar.

"Well, I can't stroll through town with these two slung across my shoulder… hmm. Well, I'll just leave from here he smiled."

Itachi sat up and spoke to silently to Sasori.

"What are you going to do with them?" Sasori asked.

"Dunno. I guess I'll just hand them to the Entity."

Kakuzu smirked, "Does IT have a name? Or are you just going to go around calling it The Entity every time we see you."

The Foreigner smirked, "I already told you, it is unlikely that we will meet again, and yes, IT does have a name, but I don't know it."

"You keep saying that, 'I won't see you again… most likely.' Why?" asked Nagato.

"That is because of what I am."

"What are you?"

"He looked at Itachi, "I thought I made it clear that I wasn't going to tell you," he paused, closed his eyes and drew a breath, then spoke once more, but with a much higher pitch, like he was… in pain, "Now move, or you will be taken with us."

The akatsuki obliged and the man drew a piece of charcoal from his pocket and began drawing on the floor. When that was done he pricked his finger and smeared it around the edge of his circle, then made a hand-sign, grabbed the two prisoners and shouted something in a language they did not know. Then a whole made of light and dark appeared under his feet and he slowly began to sink down.

With a wave good-bye the stranger was gone.

"That was fuckin weird! I wonder what will happen next time?"

"Hidan, Shut Up!"

"Hey, I just get back and this is how you treat me? Fuck you Kakuzu."

Sasori and Itachi both stood, "We have got to go."

Nagato nodded. They left.

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All of the akatsuki were about to fall asleep. Yet they were waiting for something. Most specifically they were waiting for somebody to start the over-cap.

_So. Fucking Pein isn't Pein he is some fuckin bitch asshole named Nagato?_

_Yes Hidan, now shut you're mouth._

_Damn._

Kakuzu cursed silently.

_Now… Nagato is with us. Interesting. 6ne would think that leader would stay alive longer._

_Sasori, you're just upset that you lose the position of 'unofficial leader' hm._

_Deidara._

_Yes. _

_Shut up._

Nagato grimaced, he really didn't want to get involved, but he also had to find out what had happened.

_Why don't you just fill me in on everything that has happened to far._

Deidara answered, _Whatever._

_Fine._

_Hn._

_Sure._

_Why the fuck not?_

Nagato rolled his eyes once more.

_One more thing, it seems that there is another world out there associated with this one,_ Said Leader.

_We will have to infiltrate that one too._

_Right._

_That means you Hidan and Kakuzu. _

_Shit, why?_

_Because you are not doing anything else that is useful._

_Fuck you._

_What?_

_Never mind._

_Right, so, fill me in._ Was Nagato's final demand.

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Ok, now they are interacting with the old world. Oh, and don't mind the OC, he won't play a big role. It's just none of the naruto characters fit the description I needed for that role. There will be more about him later.

I know I said there would be more fights, but this gets the story going faster.

I meant to get this chapter out sooner, but my internet shut down.

Next time: Captains Talk about Naruto world and disappearance of Ikaku. Plus Hidan and Kakuzu try to slip into Las Noches.


	12. Mentors?

_Akatsuki mind communication_

I don't own Naruto or Bleach

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Hidan was staring at his feet. He wasn't groveling, after all he never groveled, except to Jashin-sama, he was thinking. Contrary to popular belief he did _actually_ think. The others didn't realize it, but sometimes when they thought he was praying he was actually pondering the problems of the world… not really. But this time he had actually come up with a dilemma.

"Hey! Kakuzu!"

His partner continued snoring.

"KAKUZU! WAKE the FUCK UP!"

His partner opened one eye and glared at him irately.

"Hidan. Go. To. Sleep."

Hidan glowered at his cohort, "We have a problem, so get the fuck up."

Kakuzu righted himself and looked blankly at Hidan, then he started laughing.

"SHUT UP! Stupid Bastard, you don't realize that I've really found something out!"

Kakuzu responded with more laughs, and they weren't nice laughs because Kakuzu had a rule: he never laughed with you, he always laughed at you.

"Seriously! Listen! How the Hell are we going to get into the Hallow-place?!"

Kakuzu stopped laughing when he realized that his partner was right.

"Shit, why the Hell did I not think about that!"

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Aizen was staring down at his underlings. Something was wrong. Yammy was gone. So after a long pause, during which he allowed their fear to impregnate the air around him (He liked being able to do that), he smiled.

Now, if you don't know, Aizen's smiles had three effects. For some people it melted their innards and made their knees shake. Then there were some, like Grimmjow, who HATED his smile. Aizen could tell, when he used his smirk- those ones- just wanted claw the smirk right off his face. Finally there were the stoic ones who were able to completely ignore the effects of his smile.

After he smiled for about two minutes (after all, he had to _appear_ like a benign God-king) he asked the question every arrancar was waiting for.

"Where is Yammy?"

Looks were exchanged among the arrancar before finally stark stood up and gave the answer that everybody knew, "We don't know."

Aizen's smile slipped for half a second, but it was quickly back in all of it's smirking-half-lidded glory.

"Well, this does not look good. Number zero gone? missing? Hm."

He paused and his eyes went to the corner, "Gin."

His lieutenant stepped out of the shadows, "Yes?"

"Find him."

Gin disappeared without a word.

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Pein was tired, but he wasn't going to let it show.

"Hidan has a point."

Kakuzu's facial expression said 'don't go on I'll never hear the end of it' while Hidan praised Jashin in thanks.

"You are dismissed."

Hidan's face vaulted, "Who the hell do you think you are!"

Nagato did not even dignify that with a verbal reply, but he might as well have said, 'I am the leader'.

Kakuzu walked out rolling his eyes and Hidan followed. Nagato focused his eyes upon a particularly dark corner in the room.

"Itachi-san, you can come out now."

"Nagato-sama"

The crimson haired youth's bangs covered his eyes, but failed to hide his sardonic smile, "You never respected me as a superior in life, so why start now."

Itachi raised a brow.

"When we were alive you were Madara's puppet."

"I was not the only one."

Itachi's eyes seemed to dim, then their light returned with a crimson flash, before his sharingan was quickly subdued.

"Touché"

"I suppose you want to know about everything that happened since your death."

The dark-haired-boy simply nodded.

"After you died Madara told Sasuke about what you did to Konoha and what Konoha did to you."

"Yes, up until that point I did not even know Madara knew the whole story, it was just a suspicion I had. So, he told the rest of Akatsuki then."

"Yes, well. If he hadn't it would have seemed like he was auctioning off positions to out killers."

Itachi graced his features with a ghost of a smirk.

"Your brother believed him."

"I know," _but I had hoped that he would go home_, were Itachi's unspoken words.

You brother no longer thinks of the village hidden in the leaves as a home.

"I should have guessed… So he joined after all"

"Yes."

If Nagato had been the type to give condolences he would have put a hand on his… acquaintance's shoulder, but as it was he kept his condolences to himself.

"So how did you die?"

"Madara ordered an attack on Konoha," but upon noticing the younger boy's clenched fist he paused, "and it worked… in a way."

"In a way?"

"The city was destroyed, courtesy of me, but then I was stopped by the Kyubbi-boy, Naruto Uzumaki."

"Uzumaki, eh?"

"Yeah, and he decided he had to talk."

"Not surprising really."

It was Nagato's turn to raise a brow, "He does that often?"

"From what I can tell, It seems to be part of his nature."

Nagato closed his eyes as if remembering,"He reminded me of me, and of my nindo, my original one anyway."

"Do you know what he told me?"

Nagato opened his eyes and shrugged.

"He told me He was a better brother to Sasuke than I ever was. And he is right."

"Madara. I hope that bastard burns in hell."

Itachi smirked, "Don't we all, but I can't help but hate the shodaime and nidaime too, what is happening now could have been stopped in their time."

"And we are always left to clean up their messes."

Itachi nodded his agreement.

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It was a new morning and Deidara was sitting attention-filled (sleeping) through a lecture on 'A History of Seireitei's greatest captains.'

Sasori was watching the board with his eyes glazed over while Itachi took notes, after all he reasoned, it might come in useful later. Then suddenly the doors banged open and in walked a white-cloak.

Deidara was sitting rigid, as the bang had reminded him of his real-child-hood, not something he wanted to remember. The rest of the class appeared as startled as he did, apart from Sasori who was staring sedately at the captain, and Itachi who was finishing his notes.

The woman moved slowly and banged her hand on Itachi's desk, while glaring simultaneously at Deidara (who had relaxed) and Sasori, "You three are coming with me."

Sasori raised an eyebrow and messaged pain, while the other two stood to follow.

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Shigekuni Yamamoto-Genryūsai sat in his chair and looked down upon the other captains, "So you all understand what is about to happen?"

"Um, so basically, you don't trust them?" asked Kyōraku.

"And we have to babysit them?"

"It's not babysitting Zaraki, have you seen their eyes, children don't have eyes like that. I agree with the Captain-commander's statement," replied the captain Ukitake.

"So who will watch them?"

All eyes turned the asker of the million-dollar question.

"Well what do you suggest Kuchiki-taicho?" asked Unohana.

"I will take one."

Zaraki smiled at the twelfth division captain, "Of coarse you will."

"Do we have any other volunteers?"

Kyouraku stood forward, but none after him followed.

The captain-commander sighed, "Kuchiki-taicho step forward."

A brow was raised.

"Remember, this will not last forever, other captains will also watch them. Now Soifon-taicho will be here soon. This discussion is closed."

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Sasori stared forward through the dark hallways. He recognized where they were, it was the captain's meeting room where they were first brought.

_They do not trust us._

_No they don't and that means they are smart._

_Then what are they doing to do about it?_

_I don't know._ Sasori thought as he made his way forward.

Itachi appeared as relaxed as a sleeping cat, but then, cats were always paying attention, even when they were asleep. Deidara's shoulders were tense, but not from fear, he just looked stubborn.

The captain ahead of them squared her shoulders and put her hands at her side in a manner of respect and waited for the attendant to open the doors. Inside the room the captains were lined up in two rows leading up to the captain-commander's throne. The female captain entered her spot in the line and stared straight ahead.

The captain-commander cleared his throat, "We are here today because we think your education is in danger. Students such as yourselves can only be stifled in a classroom."

Sasori allowed a puzzled expression to cross his face, "What does that mean for us?"

"Each you are going to be apprenticed to one of the captains."

_That is clever._

Sasori concurred, _Now they can keep a close eye on us without being suspicious._

The captain commander made a motion and three of the captains stepped forward.

"Kuchiki-Taicho, Kurotsuchi-taicho and Kyoraku-taicho volunteered to be your mentors."

As Yamamoto-Genryūsai said each name he motioned to one of the men before him. When the he finished each of the captains stepped forward. The face-pain-mask-man called Kurotsuchi walked towards Sasori while the-pink-mantle-man walked stood in front of Deidara. That left the noble to Itachi.

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The end of the chapter.

Soon, the captains will begin to prepare for the invasion of the home world.


	13. Assistants?

_Akatsuki mind talking_

'thoughts'

I don't own Naruto or Bleach

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Byakuya was looking down at his young (maybe not so young)… charge and for the first time in along time he felt pity. Disdain- that he felt often- pity was entirely different. After all, because everybody was worse-off than he was, he could hardly feel pity for the entire world. Yet the boy in front of him, looking into his dead eyes made something in his own eyes twinge.

'Children should not have eyes like that.'

At the rate he was going it seemed as if he would soon be adopting another stray. His mother had often scolded him for bringing home bony-animals when he was younger… he always had been fond of cats.

At any rate the child was not a cat, it was a young boy. And besides, he had long ago broken that habit, Rukia was that last one that he took home.

The boy looked at him, he looked at the boy and nobody said anything.

Itachi felt the familiar dizziness that was associated with the astral communications and listened to an irate red-head berate him.

_Itachi, somebody has to break the silent game, and it does not look like it is going to be him._

_I suppose so._

"So, why has a most honorable captain chosen to mentor me?"

The captain before him simply raised a brow, but replied, "I was chosen for this role, it was deemed that our personalities were similar and that I would be the best choice as your master."

'So, you did not have a choice.'

Itachi nodded his head in a respectful fashion, but made sure that it could not be associated with any noble court, he was supposed to be from the Rukongai after all.

"Very well."

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Sasori was in a Laboratory, and though it was interesting, it was also disdainful. This man wasn't artistic at all. He looked at the world through a lens and did not see the world as it should be, as art. If only he had hiruko, but all he had was a useless sword.

The captain then turned his strange eyes towards him, and smiled.

"Now, Sasori-san, if you would be so polite as too step up here."

The young-man looked towards the machine and decided that no, he would not be going anywhere near the thing.

Feigning interest in a glass bottle he tapped it twice and smiled while tapping it a third and shattering it, letting its contents role onto the keyboard.

The captain next to him looked as if he had just lost his child. He grabbed a box and ran towards the machine that Sasori had just accidentally destroyed.

"Nemu!"

A young woman appeared from the shadows, "Take the boy to containment. I want to know if he was contaminated and how he reacts if he has."

The woman looked at her captain, "But taicho, the captain-commander told you not to experiment on them, he said-"

"Woman, I don't care what that old fart said. I can experiment on the boy; I just won't get caught doing it."

Sasori smiled as he listened to the conversation.

'Does this man think I am stupid? It's not a question of not experimenting on me. It's a question of avoiding it, and learning as I do so. I wonder what was so important about that machine that he is trying to hard to clean.'

Sasori kept his smirk to himself as he watched the captain pull the machine apart to dry its parts painstakingly, one-by-one.

'Now all I have to do is act like a scared annoying child… and avoid experimentation at all costs.'

He quietly observed the layout of the building as the woman led him away from her frantic captain.

'This will be interesting.'

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Kyoraku observed the boy in front of him. He was small, and bony. His ribs stuck out, his collar bone was protruding and his knees and elbows stuck out in sharp contrast to his skinny limbs.

'How is this boy still alive?'

"Quite staring yeah."

Kyoraku froze and allowed a smile to play across his face, "Well, I was going to say that we should get to know each other here, but now I think I am hungry, so let's go out to the food districts."

The boy looked pointedly down as his stomach rumbled.

"I don't need your charity."

Kyoraku laughed, "Boy, you live in soul society, and if the school meals haven't been able to fatten you up, and I take it was my duty to do so."

Deidra looked up at the man, feeding him what were his motives. Thinking back he looked up at him once more, "Trying to see if I will grow boobs?"

All conversation in the hall stopped, Deidra froze. Kyoraku looked around and laughed, hard.

"Look kid," he said through his wheezing laughter, "You're just too skinny. Besides, now that I look at you it is obvious you're a boy."

The kid, Deidra scrutinized him a bit longer.

"Fine, I like Yakisoba, yeah."

Kyoraku smiled and led him down to a stand and placed his order along with the boy's. He readjusted his pink kimono and pulled off his sake, then he looked down on his charge.

"Hey, kid, you'll move to the eighth division barracks tomorrow, I'll send somebody to help. Then-"

"What is the point of it, hm? It's not like you will have time."

"Kid," Kyoraku said as he looked down on the blond, "Let me finish and you will know."

Ha paused once more, waiting to see what Deidra would say, the boy just fidgeted under his stern look, but didn't say a thing.

"Ok kid, I won't have much time, but occasionally I will train you. It seems like you are going to be our division's poster child." The boy flinched "While you won't be coming with me on missions, you will be my… assistant, but mostly you will travel with different shinigami in my division."

Deidra looked calmly up at the older man, "… So I am a… "

"You're a what?"

"I forget the word yeah," the boy said, trying to think, he slammed his fist onto the table, "Ahh, I am like some sort of representation of your greatness!"

Kyoraku laughed, "I wanted a representation of my division, I would have picked somebody who did not nearly look so sickly kid, don't flatter yourself."

The kid looked up at him, his dark-rimmed eyes to bid for his face, "So, if I am such a bad choice, why was I picked. Hm."

The food arrived, and the boy descended upon his soup the way vultures do their corpses: with greed and gusto.

Kyoraku paused then smiled, "Kid, you seem smart, so just believe me when I tell you that you look like you need it."

The boy paused, a spoon halfway to his mouth, but forgotten as the captain was once more faced with those burning blue eyes, now radiating pride. Deidra put the spoon down, pushed the bowl away and said, "I don't need anybody's pity. Hm."

The captain looked at the boy, his grey eyes persuasive, leaving no room for argument, "It's not pity kid, you are part of my division and I have no space for children who are dying on their feet. Eat."

Deidra scowled at the man, but his answer seemed to work because the boy began eating again.

'This is why I am never having children…'

Deidra looked up again, "That Captain Kurotsuchi, yeah" he could not help but smile at the name, "he seems kind of creepy."

"Your point being?"

Deidra paused and looked up, "He is Sasori's…_mentor_," he said the word sarcastically "and I don't want anything to happen."

Kyoraku smiled down at him, 'so he is embarrassed about being worried.'

"Don't worry, I'll talk to Nemu, tell her to keep him out of the way, or give him a new project of something, he should like that… But your friend should be fine."

Kyoraku paused; the boy had stopped breathing, "Are you ok?"

"That slimy red-head **is not** my friend!"

Kyoraku had to repress his eyebrows from lifting in disbelief, 'kid you aren't fooling anybody.'

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Itachi was familiarizing himself with the schematics of his new home. It was a mansion just outside of soul society, on sprawling grounds covered with varying types of flowering trees. He did not like it. It reminded him of his own home, where he grew up, with his mother and father and brother. And because it reminded him of his home, it also was a grievous reminder of his most glorious mistake.

'Don't think of that now, there is still much I can do for my home.'

"Itachi-san."

The young man turned at the sound of the voice of the servant beckoning him.

'What was her name? Chico? Chikako? Chiyoko?'

"Kuchiki-sama would like you to join him for dinner, his sister Rukia-sama will be joining you."

"Ah, Thank you Chouko-san."

She smiled prettily, and nodded her head as he left the room.

Needless to say, other members of the Kuchiki family were not pleased when another child entered their esteemed family. The fact that he was not a permanent addition only succeeded in appeasing them slightly. Thus, the servants took the mentality of their masters and worked to make the boy know his place. Chouko treated him with respect, and in-turn was grateful, he was a silent person, but he did not intentionally shun human companionship.

He stepped into the compound, left his shoes by the door and entered his room. Inside he found the proper attire waiting for him on his futon. He dressed silently and made his way to the dining hall.

_Sasori, Deidra, I will be busy for the next three hours, and I don't want the captain to know about our methods of communication._

Sasori answered first, _I have work anyway. Kurotsuchi says that if I can't be experimented on then I have to work. Besides, my roommate is next to me, and she is being annoyingly observant._

Itachi got a sudden flash of the Nemu woman following Sasori around.

Deidra rolled his eyes when he heard it, 'Like I'd ever talk to the Uchiha anyway.'

Itachi suppressed a smirk, _I heard that._

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Nagato stood before the chalk mark that the foreigner had made and placed his hands, palms facing down, on top of it.

He had successfully solved its twisting turns and finally found the chakra combinations necessary to open the tunnel, all he had to do now was start it. Slowly he steeped his chakra through the seal and watched as a portal opened before his eyes, it was black as night, but with his eyes be could see past the darkness and into the desert on the other side.

"This is it, go."

Hidan made a move to curse him out but Kakuzu, who saw the strain, pushed his partner through the door. Nagato released his hold on the chakra, and watched as the portal swallowed itself.

"That was impressive."

Nagato suppressed a sigh, "Your seal was already there."

The foreigner shrugged, "But you did not know how to use it."

It was Nagato's turn to shrug, "Is there a reason why you're here."

His green eyes narrowed slightly as he grinned, "Oh, yes, it seems your friend, Hoshigaki Kisame or Kisame Hoshigaki or whoever he is, has died."

"Ah."

The man moved to the center of the room and scrutinized his seal.

"Well," the stranger smiled again, "A warning unto you, don't let him get caught first, he only knows the basics he does not know who is here before him."

"When should we expect him-"

It was to late the man had vanished.

"I wonder if he can actually do anything useful."

Nagato shrugged for the third time that night and warned the other former akatsuki.

_Be on the look out for Kisame._

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AN- wow It has been a while since I last updated, and while I have had a lot of work, I won't bother with an excuse. Reviews are appreciated. Hidan and Kakuzu will start off the next chapter.


	14. Of Hidan's Innder World

_Akatsuki mind talking_

'thoughts'

I don't own Naruto or Bleach

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Hidan stared at the trees blocking his way in disgust.

"The fuck is this?"

Kakuzu looked at his irately waving comrade, "It's a forest," he dead-panned.

Hidan's teeth gnashed in his mouth but he managed to answer, "No shit, I meant what's the situation?"

"Situation? I didn't know you knew that word."

"Shut up Kakuzu! I am being serious. Where the fuck are we supposed to go?"

Kakuzu shrugged as he dodged a swipe from his partner, "Stop your flailing Hidan. You're bringing attention to us."

"You should listen to him you know."

Kakuzu stilled, but Hidan ignored his partner's reaction and charged towards the sound of the voice, but before he could strike he was yanked out of the way and tossed across the clearing.

"The fuck was that for Kakuzu?"

"You couldn't have beaten him."

"Jashin gave me-"

"I don't care what your 'god' gave you; you can't beat the shodaime Hokage."

Kakuzu pressed his lips into a thin line and crushed his hand into a fist, "I couldn't kill him."

The man in question was leaning against the base of a giant tree looking perfectly in control. Kakuzu suppressed his anger again when he saw the confident smile that played across the man's lips. His armor was immaculate, and his leaf head band tied securely in place.

"Why are you here?" Kakuzu said, not without some distrust.

The former Hokage uncrossed his arms and stepped out of the shadows, "I have a message from… our home."

Kakuzu nodded, even if he wanted to kill the man before him, he wasn't going to jeopardize his freedom for it.

"You will not pass as hollows, or arrancar rather, as you are now. So, you have orders."

Kakuzu once more suppressed the urge to kill the Hokage _so get to the point_, "I figured as much."

"You will stay in this forest and learn to summon you zanpaktos, oh," he paused an approached both men, "You will need this," he opened his hand and dropped two seeds into Kakuzu's hand.

"They will give you the chakra, or reatsu, of a hollow."

Kakuzu passed one to Hidan who stared the thing incredulously, "What do you expect us to so with these things?"

Hashirama turned his head towards Hidan, "You eat it."

"Fuck no," Hidan made a more to drop the seed, but the Hokage was there to stop him. Before Hidan could exclaim about the man's speed, his stomach met with a fist causing him to buckle over then Hashirama took the opportunity to shove the seed down to man's throat.

The Hokage took a step back to survey his work. Hidan was coughing up a lung as he downed the seemingly tiny particle.

Hashirama gave Kakuzu a look that said, 'Do I need to do the same to you?'

Kakuzu raised a brow in answer, then he calmly swallowed the seed. Hidan choked in the background.

The Hokage smiled and raised his hand, "See you."

He was gone in a flash of light and all that remained of his presence was the charred ground where he stood.

Hidan stood up shakily, his face red, "Son of a bitch!"

For once Kakuzu seemed to agree.

Then he paused and put his hand to his stomach, where he felt the seed take root.

He turned to Hidan who was clutching his head in a similar manner, he vaguely remembered Hidan mutter something along the lines of "the fuck?" before he saw his partner collapse right next to him. Kakuzu would have said something a twinge in his stomach sent him reeling into oblivion right next to his partner.

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Nagato pulled down the sakat from its resting place on his dresser and pulled it over his head, hiding his ringed eyes and crimson hair from view.

Slowly he paced around the room, _it sure is nice to be able to move,_ he mused. He frowned at the thought of the Gedō Mazō… 'Madara said that he would use Sasuke as his next puppet… Itachi will not be pleased.'

He paused in his walking as Sasori entered the room.

"I never thought of you as the pacing type."

"Being attached to a statue will do that to you," Nagato responded dryly.

Sasori just rolled his eyes, "I do not think the hat is going to hide your abnormalities."

Nagato shrugged, "At least my features won't be on display for those who don't focus."

"It's not the common people you are hiding from."

"No, but it's the common people who will point us out to them… Don't you have to be with your psychotic captain?"

"He caught a cold and now he has the whole division walking the streets so he can disinfect the building."

"You weren't followed?"

"Not that I'm aware of."

"Keep it that way."

Sasori nodded, "Where are you going?"

"Kisame's coming and we need to find him before they do. Tell Itachi and Deidara to keep an eye out for him as well."

Nagato wrapped a grey cloak around his shoulders and stepped out into the rain, "You should go back before the good captain suspects something."

He shut the door before Sasori could reply.

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Hidan felt as if something was ripping his head apart, taking root and sprouting and growing until he felt his head explode (figuratively of course). Then the world went black and he was lying suspended in the middle of it all.

"Where the fuck am I?" He asked nobody in particular, too bad for him, somebody answered back.

"I dunno… where do you think"

Hidan tensed, jumped to his feet and turned around while reaching for his scythe, only to find that is was not there; or rather a version of it was in the hands of the thing standing before him. He resisted the urge to attack whatever it was.

The weapon itself was relatively unchanged, it still had three blades, but each was longer and thinner, the metal honed to an almost imperceptible edges giving the blades wicked gleams. The shaft was thicker with agonized faces carved in relief on the pole, and the whole thing was a crimson do dark it was almost black and only the wicked undertones of the color showed in certain lights, all but the blades which glowed with a hungry grey light in stark contrast to the rest of the blade. The scythe's tail was still in its place only rather than a point it ended with a thick black barb.

However it was the wielder that Hidan wanted to destroy, who invaded the sanctuary of his mind. He had never had to worry about what happened to his flesh, only about his soul and any invasion of that was almost sacrilegious in Hidan's view. Moreover there were secrets best kept secrets and things that even he did not want to remember in the dark recesses of his being.

So it was with barley any restraint that he spit out, "the fuck are you, and the hell are you doing here?"

It, or she, because it was female and would have been beautiful at one time, simply smiled.

This only succeeded in enraging Hidan more, "Bitch, get the fuck out of my head."

The woman's rotten skin sagged slightly and one brow rose to be obscured by her wispy, greasy grey locks, "I can't exactly 'get the fuck out' heathen because this is more my home than it is yours," she smiled thoughtfully revealing the full extent of the rot she possessed.

Around them the dark knight faded to dusk then dawn, and moist ground found itself under their feet.

"This is a reflection of your inner soul, Hidan, and for that it is my home."

Above them a great oak sprouted from the ground and flew into the fullness of its life before him, with small waxy leaves and long stands of moss unfurled to hang from branches. In the distance he could make out similar shadows in the distance through the thick fog.

Hidan looked at the woman and felt that she was not lying.

"Have you figured out who I am?"

Hidan turned his eye from the woman with a frown splayed across his face, and watched his 'inner world' change before his eyes. In the distance he heard water slashing eerily on the shore through the mist, and started as a stone slab pulled itself out of the ground before his eyes.

"It's a grave marker," she said.

"What's it say?"

She shrugged, making the ragged black material of her dress sway raggedly in the non-existent wind.

"I don't know what it says, it's in another language," she paused and turned her ravaged face to Hidan, "Do you know who I am?"

He put his hands in his pockets and shrugged with a slightly mad smile on his face, "You're my zanpakto"

She laughed, once more revealing her ragged mouth, "Maybe if you were a 'shinigami' I would be a zanpakto, but as it stands you're an 'arrancar' so I am your resurrection."

Hidan turned to her and smiled sickly sweet with an unnatural gleam from within this soul, "So, it's your name I need isn't it."

Her smile and the gleam in her one remaining eye matched Hidan's perfectly, "Good luck," and she swung her scythe.

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Dinner at the Kuchiki's was uneventful, much to the elder's chagrin. They continually attempted to bait Itachi into an outburst, only to be disappointed when he ignored their attempts and ate his meat as if they were not there to begin with. Rukia was ignored as usual, but she continually threw Itachi looks of pity from across the table, at one time that had been her.

Byakuya could not help but raise a brow, when he himself was of that age he had been far from composed, some would even say he had been a brat (not that he would agree… publicly).

Itachi for his part felt sick to his stomach. In the places of the Kuchiki elders he could imagine those of his own clan, and in the young lord (relatively young by soul society's standards) Itachi saw who he might have been had the coup de eta gone according to plan. So it was in this place that he saw his actions kick him in the face.

And it was in this position of self-loathing that Itachi found himself in when the Kuchiki elders brought up the subject of the king.

_King?_

"Byakuya-dono," one annoyingly pompous elder addressed, "I heard you have been summoned by the king?"

Itachi stilled while Rukia food stopped its race from her plate to her mouth mid-way.

The Kuchiki had looked up from his meal, "You heard correctly Katsuo-san, and your sources are accurate."

Itachi swore that he saw the nobleman hide a rat-like smile and controlled his disgust. 'It was men like you that destroyed my family.'

But he knew in his heart that it was he that killed them all, not his father's power hungry advisors.

_Itachi, what are they saying?_

_Nothing at the moment Nagato-san, _and it was true, the room had fallen into an uncomfortable silence until another elder, (of a similar disposition to the first) spoke again.

"Do you know what for?"

"No, I do not Tarou-san. All I was informed of was that all four of the noble houses were to be included, as well as the captain commander."

Another silence was observed to appease the lord Kuchiki's unspoken command of 'shut the hell up and let me eat in peace!'

"We leave in three weeks time and we stay for another," he paused and stood slowly and raised a hand in a final action that signified the end of the dinner.

"You are dismissed."

There was little protest as the young lord left the table, Rukia hot on his tale motioning for Itachi to follow. He stood and gratefully followed.

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It was late, the moon was high and he was standing before his wife's grave.

"Things are moving Hisana, faster than they have in a long time."

He paused and remembered the meeting earlier in the week.

"We have not been summoned to the Kings realm in an age, and I believe it is as much for the Aizen threat as it is for the possibilities that this new world provides."

There was a long pause as every captain present processed what was being said.

The twelfth division captain rubbed his hands together in a rather fly-reminiscent manner, "And I suppose one of the topics up for discussion will be our captives?"

"Yes, those likely will be on the agenda for the week's discussions."

Byakuya paused before he spoke, "The kings messenger spoke to me earlier on this matter. The four houses will all be sending representatives to this meeting as well."

Kyoraku looked questioningly at the captain before him, "Then am I correct in assuming you shall be going as your clan's head Kuchiki-kun?"

Byakuya ignored the familiar as he answered, "Yes, I am."

Zaraki looked around, "So who's the old bag going to send for us?"

The old bag rolled his eyes mentally but showed nothing of his mild irritation on the surface, "If this were a normal situation I would go to meet the king myself, however, because of Aizen I will be staying here in case of a direct attack. In my place I shall send Shunsui Kyoraku-taicho."

The man in question hid his surprise, "Hey, yama-ji, you like me more than you want to admits, eh?"

Byakuya repressed an outward display of emotion and found himself before his wife's picture once more.

"I will speak to you again soon."

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Kakuzu woke up to a kick in the face, "Get the hell up you dumb-shit."

Hidan aimed another kick to his side, but Kakuzu was ready and flung Hidan across the clearing, then he stood up and put a hand to his stomach, only the find that it wasn't there.

"The fuck?" he growled.

"Ha, yeah, you look real fucked up."

Kakuzu looked up, only to double over in raucous laughter.

Hidan was not pleased by this, but Kakuzu continued to laugh, "Better to miss part of my abdomen than be like you without a brain."

"Shut the fuck up!"

But Kakuzu was right, if somebody had taken a cookie cutter and removed a perfectly circular cut out of his front then Hidan had a smaller cut-out in the middle of his forehead.

"Anyway you fuck'tard don't we have to go to this place called Las Noches anyways?"

Kakuzu caught his breath and straightened, "Yeah, lets go."

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AN: Deidara will start of the next chapter since we did not see him once here. I like this chapter, and again I am really late, and again I won't be making excuses. I'll be gone for most of the rest of the summer.

On another note I watched the Netherlands beat Brazil. I was not expecting that, but the Dutch played well so yeah. I also watched The Road with Viggo Mortensen and it is perhaps the saddest movie I have ever seen, but really good. If you like bleak films with a point you should watch it.


	15. Man vs Self

I don't own Naruto or bleach.

_Mind Talking_

'thoughts'

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Nagato pulled the brim of his sakat down, successfully keeping his eyes from view, he did not need them anyway, Kisame's chakra has always been like a forest fire at midnight (in strength at least, when tested, it felt like those deep ocean currents that stole the life out of fools who thought they could swim them).

Left, Right, Left, another Left- Kisame's trail was almost too easy to find, and he only hoped that others did not get there first.

_Kisame,_ Nagato located the mind of his former comrade, _Hide your chakra; I'm not the only one trying to find you._

Nagato quickly retreated, leaving behind a bewildered nin, but to his chagrin, felt Kisame's presence decrease radically, it was still there as Kisame never had been the best at things like control, but muted. Hopefully, that would buy them some time, Nagato doubted it though.

'If only I had told him to move too.'

Never the less, Nagato continued turning, but at an increased speed, he needed to get there before anybody from soul society did.

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Kisame, for his part, was one part bewildered, one part resentful and one part bloodthirsty. Bewildered because he had been dying, and then he was dead, and then there was a voice (loud and painful, one that he would never forget) and next he knew he was lying in the middle of the street between a blacksmith and a food vendor.

Resentful because the voice (or the world as it called itself) tore him apart, figuratively speaking, because of all that he had done, when all that he was guilty of was living the life he had been raised to live. He also did not know how he felt about working for Nagato, in his opinion Madara was the leader of the Akatsuki, not that everybody agreed with that statement, but he did.

Finally bloodthirsty- because it was better to be bloodthirsty that bewildered and resentful, bewildered and resentful made it easier for you to be killed: weak (and Kisame despised weakness, especially in himself).

So Kisame stood, brushed himself off, and walked carefully away from the vendor's stand and in Nagato's direction, he was no fool, he knew when a position was compromised. So he smothered his bloodlust, and hoped that his other two- less controllable emotions- would disappear when he learned more about his situation.

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Kakuzu woke slowly, first the creature that would be his resurrection disappeared with a snarling laugh, and then he himself lay down for a rest. The crackling leaves of the realm of his inner mind vanished from underneath him, him dim conscience recognized the new substance below his as fine sand. Finally he consciously pulled breath through his lungs and opened one through his blinding head-ache.

It would be a while before he stood up properly, shinobi training regardless, he could barely blink without causing some spurt of pain to link with other segments of his body. His only consolidation was that Hidan was not yet up (in fact his partner looked worse off than he did- to which he was thankful… maybe there was a god).

It took a few minutes, but eventually Kakuzu managed to stumble up and rest his hands on his knees. Distantly he recognized the sounds of approaching, padding, predatorily footsteps- something was looking for them. Kakuzu stood up to his full height (even as a teenager it had been substantial) and walked over to Hidan, his partner was mumbling in his sleep, he understood a few choice curse words, but everything else was indistinguishable. The taller man drew his leg back and gave his partner a vicious kick in the ribs,

"Hurry up Hidan; we don't have time for this. Finish it up."

Kakuzu placed his hand on the Katana at his side and looked down to gaze upon it. Unfortunately his eyes met the hole in his chest first. If he had been a lesser man (Hidan's face came to mind) he would have leapt out of his skin, as it were, he merely raised a brow and growled belatedly. He knew hollows had holes, but to see one cut into his own body, almost as if one of those infernal cookie cutters had been used and where his heart should have been no-less, was slightly unnerving.

He speculations, however, were stopped by the slow, agonized moan of his partner, which was slightly disconcerting if her were honest with himself (and he was always honest with himself, being a fiscal-minded person did that to you, after all, you always had to know about your assets).

Hidan did not mind pain, in fact, Hidan loved it- pain was the prayers and worship that his God so desired. Hidan's lust for pain, raining it on the populace of the places they had visited as well as inflicting it upon himself, had always been one the nin's most eccentric qualities (one that Kakuzu had never understood), but it was so ingrained into the white-haired man's personality. To see something so contradictory in his partner unnerved him. For the first time, Kakuzu wondered if maybe he was in over his head.

However, Hidan was awaking so Kakuzu schooled his features into his normal passive-annoyance and stared irately down at his partner.

"Get off your ass Hidan."

Hidan's only reply was another moan that might have been a "Fuck you Kakuzu."

"Hidan, get off your ass. We have to move."

When Hidan made no show of stirring, Kakuzu did what he knew best and slammed his foot down on the right side of his partner's rib cage. Kakuzu rolled his eyes as Hidan's eyes shot open and pulled his gangly self into a standing position. He would have cursed but Kakuzu was having none of it, instead he received an elbow to the face as Kakuzu attempted to shut him up.

Hidan mouth hung open as he placed a hand on his temple, a place Kakuzu distinctly remembered from his own transformation. Whatever it was, it seemed to occupy Hidan, taking his mind from all thoughts of thoroughly dismembering his partner physically and verbally. However, Hidan's hand left his temple just as quickly as it came and Kakuzu was left to stare as a black bulge, slick like the thickest oil and blacker still bulged it's was out of his forehead, leaving the younger man with a hole the size of a large coin right in the middle of his forehead.

"The fuck happened to you?"

Hidan stare was twice as incredulous as Kakuzu's own, as the white-haired men looked at the changes in his partner. Belatedly, Kakuzu noted the paler pallor of his skin and the thicker darker stitched the knit his way around his body. Yet it was nothing compared to Hidan, whose' arms had slightly elongated, and whose skin had taken the permanent appearance of what happened when he went into his favorite jutsu.

Kakuzu, pointed to his own forehead, "Look at yourself before you making faces Hidan."

The younger man pointed his finger at his partner angrily, but then took not of its strange back and white coloration immediately, "the fuck?"

Hidan's hands flew to his forehead, "Fuck Seriously?"

Kakuzu smirked at Hidan traced the hole in a somewhat-horrified manner.

"It fits you, now when people look at you, you won't have to open your mouth for them to figure out you have half a brain."

Kakuzu turned to leave, confident that his partner would follow him. He was always one to quite while he was ahead, and fortunately for him (and unfortunately for his partner), Hidan always managed to dig himself into deeper holes.

"In all seriousness, Hidan, we need to hide. I believe we are powerful in the standards of this world, but power without the knowledge of how to use it is useless. We need to learn."

"… Fuck you Kakuzu," because there really was nothing else he could say.

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Itachi padded silently down the hallways of the sixth division. He was supposed to be picking up a scroll for his new captain in seireitie's library. He found the scroll quickly and used the rest of his allotted time to find out more about the supposed king. Unfortunately, the shinigami were not so stupid as to leave their vital secrets lying where anybody could find them. The only thing Itachi could find was a scroll over the basic history of soul society, and a doctored one at that. Yes, he had only found out the bare minimum.

Yet Itachi was not one to give in to anger or frustration easily, he could count the number of times he had done it on one hand, and those times had all been in his childhood.

_Have you two found anything out about the king._

He had disclosed the existence of the monarch three days ago, and Nagato had made it the His, Deidara's and Sasori's job to find out more about said king.

_Only that his he Soul Societies' most well known secret. I heard Kyoraku talking about his with his lieutenant, and apparently everybody knows about him, but nobody says a thing._

_Hm… Sasori?_ Nagato had made it his priority to be in charge of the investigation when he wasn't helping Kisame figure out a genjutsu to help him blend in.

_Kurotsuchi is a scientist, not a historian, he could care less about politics, past or present. Speaking of which, doesn't your captain get to meet this man?_

_Indeed, he, the first division commander and the second division captain are all going to meet him._

Itachi could practically feel Deidara seethe at him, his earlier irritation at hearing Sasori speak about his captain hidden behind years of cultivated hatred, _Damn nobles-_

Itachi ignored the rest of Deidara's tirade until the blond was interrupted by a familiar voice.

_Sasori, you did say something about your captain researching portals?_

_Your point Kisame?_

_I'd be willing to bet there is more than just how to open these so called "gargantas" on that research._

Nagato saw where Kisame was going, _He's right Sasori, see if you can find out about how far he can go with these portals and if they have one that is capable of going to the 'home'._

Sasori pulled his consciousness from the conversation to do what he was bid, _It will take some time. Kurotsuchi protects his information well, and I am still not good with these computers,_ he said as a final note.

Itachi sighed mentally and noted that Deidara was in a worse mood then before, _Stop saying that name!_

Itachi entered his captain study, and smothered his quite bewilderment, then he set the required scroll on the table.

Before he could dull his perception of the conversation completely, he received one final order form Nagato,_ Try to make the captain take you to the meeting._

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That evening found Itachi ready to instigate his plan. The captain commander had come to the sixth division to finalize the arrangements for the trip, which was to occur a week later, and all Itachi had to do was appear at the opportune moment. The simplest plans really were the best after all.

The conversation had been drifting over the conversation of who to bring for a good forty-five minutes. All that was required of him was to enter at the opportune moment, vomit out the appropriate bull-shit and leave elegantly, which he did flawlessly. He had a lot of practice with lying through his teeth without really appearing to care, after all, hadn't Madara always thought of him as some sort of whipped hound? Not that that statement was so far from the truth from where he was standing now, as all of his quite ministrations had failed in the end anyway.

Which brought him to the topic of Kisame. Itachi still didn't know what to think of Kisame's arrival. It was obvious that he knew who the real power was behind Akatsuki now, because rather than treat Nagato as a vaulted superior he treated him as a respected equal, something that Sasori and Deidara had noted as well, and did not know what to do about. How far his to Madara went, however, that remained to be seen.

_Remained to be seen? Itachi, your internal monologues are as retentive as I thought they'd be._

_Kisame._ Itachi signed, the shark nin had to catch the last part of his thoughts hadn't he.

_In case you were wondering, I died for the cause… you were right._

_Hm, _distantly he remembered a conversation he had with Kisame about death. He had always been the stronger of the two, barely, but barely meant a lot in the ninja world, never-the-less, in life he had respected Kisame. They had almost been friends.

_About Death?_

_Yes._

_And?_

… _I wasn't as bad as I had believed… Your brother joined Akatsuki._

_I know._

_My condolences._

_About what?_

_Whatever it was that happened in Konoha all those years ago. Madara and Sasuke and Danzo, you can put a decent picture together when you have some of the facts._

Itachi was immediately on his guard, he hated pity more than Deidara did, he was just better at hiding it.

_You respected Madara?_

_He gave me a place to call my own._

_He used you._

_All shinobi are tools._

_You are still loyal._

_Maybe, but that doesn't mean we have to enemies._

_Hm_

Kisame seemed somewhat pleased with that, for after that final thought, he left.

Itachi still had his reservations, he hated Madara, but he and Kisame had been almost- friends (his last real friend had dies with Shisui). He and Deidara tolerated each other now, he and Sasori had never been more than congenial, Nagato still viewed him as a tool, but he and Kisame had always been agreeable to each other. Belatedly, Itachi had remembered that he had liked it in life.

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Sasori pulled himself out of the twilight realm of their conversations and returned to the lab room he shared with Nemu and Akon. There were still the occasional attempted-kidnappings by his captain, but they were few and far between, as more often than not he had Nemu as a body-guard and reminder to her father.

For his part, Sasori did not know what to think of the strange woman. She was just barely shorter than him and completely unreadable, and she was infuriatingly and quietly persistent at her job. He could barely get enough time to think for himself. However, he had a stroke of genius.

"Nemu-san."

The young woman looked up from her work, "Yes Sasori-san?"

"Would you teach me how to work this infuriating mechanism," he gestured lazily to the computer, "They don't have them where I come from," he said silkily.

Nemu looked cautions and bewildered, like she was testing his intensions, this sort of deal could lead to his gaining her trust, or to her fining him out, luckily, Sasori was very good at charming people, it was how he had been able to make human puppets in Suna for so long without anybody catching him.

"I will see what I can do, Sasori-san."

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AN: Sorry I haven't updated in 4'eva.

Azelf1717: I like Hidan's inner world too. When I wrote that chapter I had just gotten back from Savannah Georgia, they have this great cemetery called the Buoarte cemetery (something starting with a B). I also noticed that all of the inner worlds involved water, so that incorporated it into Hidan's as well. The swamp comes from all the marshes and Bayou's around where I live, though I guess it is more New-Orleans-y than anything else.

Thanks to all my reviewers.

Hopefully the next chapter won't take so long, but I can't promise, school is a pretty horrible right now.


	16. A Calm

I don't own Naruto or bleach.

_Mind Talking_

'thoughts'

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'That was surprisingly easy,' he mused.

It had taken the better part of the week, but Itachi finally managed to subtly receive an invitation to the king's realm. Kuchiki had approached him that very morning with the proposition, and he could still feel Nagato practically cart-wheeling around his head.

Unfortunately, he had to pack, and they were leaving tomorrow, and he needed to appropriate clothing. It was early afternoon and Kuchiki was busy, Rukia, however, was not. And it was her job to drag the irate thirteen year old around soul society for the proper regalia.

He had never liked shopping, but restrained himself from some of the antics he had pulled with his mother, he wasn't a brat. At least that was his quite mantra as the young woman pulled him from shop to shop, each more expensive than the last.

He had his arms crossed and was unintentionally standing awkwardly in the corner of their most recent stop, where, unfortunately, he was garnering more attention (from traumatized customers) than he desired. Rukia was mundanely shifting through racks, occasionally she would hold one up to his corner, more often than not they were tossed back into the pile, but rarely she would nod to herself and hand it to an attendant.

When she was done perusing she would push him into a changing room and wait for him to finish.

"Remember to come out and show me how you look," she practically sang. Itachi winced, then he flinched when he looked at what she wanted him to wear.

"Rukia-san, are you sure it would be appropriate for me to wear these to see the king?"

"What's wrong about them?"

"I just thought it would be appropriate for more traditional attire."

"What's not traditional about what I got you?"

Itachi almost sounded miserable, "They are… (a grimace) sailor outfits, and … (a gag) school uniforms. There is nothing traditional about them."

Rukia laughed (more like giggled manically), "I am sure that they are perfectly appropriate."

Itachi had other ideas; he slipped out of the stall without alerting his companion, approached one of the attendants and alerted her to his needs. Then he slid back into the changing room without Rukia being the wiser. She was perplexed when a woman brought all sorts of silk dress wear, and irritated when they bought his clothing without her ever seeing even a single expertly knitted bow-tie. Itachi minutely celebrated the victory of his salvaged pride.

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At seven O'clock sharp Deidara was expected at his captain's office, not by his captain, but by his Lieutenant. She was an uptight bitch in his opinion, one too many sticks up her ass, for who knew how many reasons. From there he was expected to the messenger to all the other divisions, something that all of the former-ninja were made to do (apparently the captains thought them too young to be of use and were unoriginal in their ways to put them to work). Regardless, it worked out for Deidara.

He was a fast runner, faster than any of the members of the divisions gave him credit for, all he had to do was get to the destination and back to his division in a reasonable time and he had the rest of it to do what he willed. That meant research.

However, on this particular Thursday, he got lucky. His captain did not wake before ten (and was not out of bed before eleven), his lieutenant was always punctual, and he was normally late. Thus when he arrived fifteen minutes early for their morning brief (essentially he just listened to her rattle off orders) nobody was there, and a scroll concerning who- knew-what lay neatly in the middle of the desk waiting for him to take it.

Sasori, earlier in the week had heard rumors concerning a scroll that detailed past campaigns that worlds had, Nagato dismissed it as too good to be true, and Itachi recognized that his captain was too good at keeping secrets for him not to get caught. Sasori's captain was good at keeping some secrets and hazardous with others, but the scroll apparently missed him anyway (that was the reason Sasori found out about it, apparently his good old captain was bitching about insubordination). However, it was just luck that found Deidara there in the morning. Yet Deidara could not help but be weary of his luck. Things as easy as what he was experiencing currently rarely lasted.

Ever- so- carefully Deidara padded towards the desk, then he spent the next five minutes checking for traps with his reatsu.

_Nagato! Nagato!_ Deidara hissed urgently.

Distantly he felt the boss roused from his sleep.

_What?_ He asked, somewhat irately.

Deidara quickly recapped what he had found and Nagato was quick to reply.

_Pick it up quickly; I've been working on some techniques._

Deidara complied warily; ever so gently he took the scroll from its spot, memorizing its position in the process.

The next thing he knew there was a gently pop- Nagato had used a reverse summoning, how though, Deidara had no idea.

Nagato, for his part, quickly summoned Itachi, who replied without a complaint, he was up already as he was leaving for the king's realm later that very afternoon.

First there was the quite familiar buzz, then Itachi was in the room with him, albeit, in the form of his astral projection.

"I need you to copy this for me," he said as he handed over the item, "Deidara says he thinks that it's the mystery scroll we've heard so much about."

Itachi paused, glanced at the thing, activated his sharingan, then looked back at Nagato, "Deidara' instincts are usually reliable," he agreed. Not seven minutes later he had a copy of the scroll closed next to the original, and a subtly smirk playing invisibly on his face.

"We'll have to talk about that."

Nagato nodded in dismissal, ever-so slightly excited. Then he sent the original scroll back to Deidara, who placed it delicately where his remembered it to be and quickly left the room. The lieutenant showed up not two minutes later.

"You're early," she scrutinized him.

Deidara just used his best shrug of nonchalance and offered his familiar cocky grin.

Her eyes narrowed but she sent him on his way.

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'The most irritating thing' thought Sasori, 'is that infuriating noise.'

He cast murderous glances at the machine to his right. It was constantly whirling and blipping, especially when he was about to get something done, like it was watching him. Sasori shrugged that last thought off. Nemu had taught him something of the computers, as they were called and he knew all of their function, spying was not one of them, at least not that he knew of… However, that was besides the point.

His real problem was breaking into them. They had all sorts of encryptions and protections that he was working on getting through without getting caught, something that was easier said than done. But he was figuring them out; soon he will have all of the machines dissected, just like his puppets of old, just not nearly so artistic.

Nemu had left him that morning to do research for her father, leaving the little horned one, Akon; he thought he was called, to watch over him. Sasori had taken out that little problem with a solution he didn't have a name for (coming up with grossly inartistic names was Deidara's job), a solution that dissolved in the blood stream and left no residue in the body. In other words, when Akon awoke he would feel as if he had taken a nap, and his vitals would concur with him. That left Sasori with an afternoon free for his own personal research. He turned back to the computer, "Infuriating inartistic construction."

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Kisame sat on the ground idly reading the scroll Nagato had handed to him. The red-head had already absorbed it, but wanted Kisame's opinion. That was because the mist-nin was very good in politics. Very good. Unlike Itachi, who as a young child had been a victim of the strings, as a young man, Kisame navigated political waters, like a shark on the hunt, and when he felt to oppressed by them he cut his losses and left.

The scroll he was reading was filled with nothing but mind numbing political jargon concerning previous wars, all the previous wars, it was a wonder Itachi managed to copy it as fast as he did. Luckily for them, Kisame was fluent in mind-numbing political jargon, and a very efficient translator.

Nagato watched Kisame read over his breakfast, (something called cereal he had recently discovered).

"It's that interesting."

"What?" Kisame asked without looking up.

"That you are best suited for politics."

Kisame let out a bark of laughter, "It's all about the personality," he grinned toothily, "Deidara is too temperamental, Sasori to impatient, You didn't grow up with it and Itachi hates it" he paused, "Konan might have been decent with it, but…"

He shrugged not commenting further.

Nagato eyes the other nin carefully, he still did not know what to do with him, it was clear that Kisame was loyal to Madara.

Kisame looked up, "Yes Nagato-san?"

Inwardly Nagato debated, that was definitely not the tone one would use with a leader, more like a respected colleague.

"Nagato-san, I have always been good at reading emotions, I was Itachi's partner for years."

Nagato saw an opening, "And yet you did not know Tobi was Madara until he revealed himself to you."

Kisame shrugged, "Madara was Mizukage for years before anybody thought something was wrong with the situation, he has had years of practice."

Nagato recognized the truth in the statement.

"Listen Nagato-san, right now our interest's line up, I want a place to call my own, and this," he waved ambiguously, "is getting in the way. But," he smiled viciously, his pointed teeth driving the idea home; "If you get in my way…" he trailed off suggestively.

Nagato pinned Kisame to the walls with his own gaze, one that was enduringly more dangerous due to his rinnegan. Kisame's grin faded, but did not leave completely.

He then chuckled and went back to reading his scroll, taking notes all the while.

Nagato went back to his breakfast, but silently pondered the dilemma. Wanting a place to call home was a desire that all nin shared on some level, and just because he despised Madara's plan did not mean he had to despise Kisame's ambition, one that he all to thoroughly understood. After all, Nagato had worked with far more unsavory people in the past (Madara and Hidan came to mind).

To his left Kisame paused.

"Interesting…"

"What?"

Kisame looked to the left, "This isn't the first time that this sort of thing has happened."

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"SHIT!"

Hidan swerved to the left. His skeletal form weaving through the trees far quicker than he would have done with flesh.

"Shit, shit shit shit SHIT!"

He leapt into a tree as a cero exploded below him.

He and Kakuzu had been training when they ran into a vasto lord, Kakuzu challenged the leader. That left Hidan with the Minions. Normally, Minions would not be a problem, but there were about three-hundred of them, and they were all very fast. Apparently, this Don- Raulo or whatever its name was, was one of the last Vasto Lords in the forest, that made him very influential, and Raulo did not like competition.

But what Hidan really grit his teeth about was Kakuzu's use of him. Hidan was not minion bait- ever.

Hidan picked up his pace and charged a cero, something he had recently discovered he was very good at.

The he stopped and turned.

"How do you like this you fuck-wads?"

With that he released the pent up energy from both fists. The resulting explosion was anything if not gigantic. Hidan was proud to note that no less than a fourth of the trees in his view had been destroyed, and that there was not a single arrancar in his line of sight.

Then he tucked his hands into his pockets and sonido-ed over to where Kakuzu was challenging the leader. Hidan was pleased to note that Kakuzu was far worse for wear than he was. Both of the combatants had already transformed, but Kakuzu was obviously (read unfortunately) winning.

Raulo's smaller, lighter avian form was being ripped to pieces by Kakuzu's deceptively thick black threads, and while Kakuzu had quite a few holes in his undulating armor, it was incomparable to the long strips of torn flesh on his opponent.

Raulo paused in mid-air, a few sporadic flaps keeping him hovering in place, but quickly his position changed as he angled himself into the position for a dive. Kakuzu prepared to meet his, the thick strands of threads uncurling from their resting position imbedded into his back. The read surprise came when Raulo opened his mouth, apparently his specialty came through sound, and Kakuzu fell into his trap, only to spring a break it. As the bird unleashed its monstrous sound wave, Kakuzu's strands ripped their way from his flesh and like threads of darkness they spit the light spilled by the world's eerie moon and consumed their victim.

Hidan approached Kakuzu, who slowly morphed back into a more regular form, only to be met by the slow clap of a very arrogant (and very pink) Espada.

"Interesting…"

Hidan could only stare incredulously at the strange get up, while Kakuzu placed his hand on the hilt of his sword in a not-subtly- at- all warning.

"Who the fuck are you?"

Kakuzu could not agree.

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Hm, I like these later chapter's better too, it's nice to know my language skills have improved (dramatically I hope). I really should go back and clean up my early chapters, but I just don't have time. I mean, all my college apps are in (its official I'm Going to College -Hellz YES) but I still need to finish up my high-school edu-ca-tion, and financial aid and all that stuff.

On another note- Three weeks, wow. I am proud of myself. I'll try to update again as soon next time.

A note on the characters-

Itachi has always struck me as very self aware and self analytical. That was what all those questions about his friendship with Kisame concerned.

In this chapter I made Deidara call Nanao a bitch- not something I agree with. I just think of Deidara as very chauvinistic, ya know, and a smart, independent woman like Nanao would not be high on his list of people to respect.

As for Kisame, due to some of the more recent chapter's concerning his character I revised my opinion of him. I think he is pretty smart, he just hides it well, and very loyal to those he chooses to follow.

Next time- Itachi sees the King. Kisame and Nagato solve part of the mysteries of the worlds, and Hidan and Kakuzu meet Aizen. Oh, and Sasori learns about Portals.


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